Paper Mario: The Temple of the Sun
by that one little guy
Summary: Mario goes on vacation in a far off country, where an evil villain's attack causes the world to be literally split in half. Now, it's up to our hero and his new partners to restore balance and save the worlds of Day, Night, and everything in between.
1. Intro, Part I

**A/N: **Oh, man. Have I _really _stooped to this level? I mean, everyone and their mom has been inventing their own Paper Mario game lately. Well, I hope nobody minds if I throw my hat into the ring. Considering this is a completely original story and not just a novelization, this is probably my most ambitious fic to date – and if by some miracle I finish the whole thing one day, it will definitely be the longest.

Well, enjoy. It's gonna be a long ride.

––––

_Ahem! Today_…

_I'm going to tell you the story of the Temple of the Sun._

_It's said that for long as life has existed, there have been two halves to the world: Night and Day, Light and Darkness._

_It is essential that these two halves constantly remain in balance. Neither one can exist without the other._

_The place where this balance is maintained is called the Temple of the Sun. It is a mystical place that exists out of time._

_And within this sacred temple are said to dwell the six Guardians of Day, and the six Guardians of Night._

_As old as time itself, these Twelve Guardians watch over existence, ensuring that the Light and Dark in the world constantly exist in harmony._

_If one of the Guardians were ever to perish, it is said that a normal person, chosen for their courage and purity of heart, would be called to ascend to their position. But such a disastrous event has never __occurred…_

_Until now. _

––

In a far corner of the world, deep within a fortress of shadow, a lone figure stood gazing up at something high above his head.

"Day to Night, dusk to dawn, light to shadow," he sighed, reaching up with a long finger to trace the outline of the object that held his attention. It was a clock.

"What a downright pathetic way of living," he declared. "Don't you think it would be better _without _all that light?"

Gathered around the figure, completely obscured by the shadow surrounding them, were several other, much smaller beings. They crouched down low and gazed up at him.

"Imagine a world of eternal night. Eternal shadow," the central figure said with a sly grimace. "And I would reign supreme over it all, as the true Master of Night."

"But that would be impossible, my lord," remarked one of the smaller figures. "You can't just get rid of the daytime, after all."

"I say different!" the central figure bellowed triumphantly, spinning around to face the others for the first time. "Jaff. You were so kind to give your opinion. Now answer me this. Who says that we must have both Day and Night in this world? Who made it so?"

The figure known as Jaff blinked several times. "The… Twelve Guardians, my lord?"

The central figure grinned, tapping his nose. "What a group of nuisances, wouldn't you say? Who says we should abide by _their _laws any longer?"

"What are you planning on doing?"

"I have an important announcement," the figure declared, sweeping his long cloak around himself. "After years of careful studying, I've finally discovered a way to enter the Temple of the Sun."

The smaller figures broke into incredulous whispers.

"But that's blasphemous talking, my lord!" one of them objected.

"You don't believe me. Well, it's true," the figure said smugly. "Very soon now, the time will be here for us to launch our attack on the cause of this accursed light. Under my guidance, we'll destroy Day once and for all!"

The others stared at each other, unsure whether to be nervous or thrilled.

"No one's ever tried this before, my lord! How do you know it's safe?" asked Jaff.

"Don't worry about that, Jaff. It _won't _be safe. Not for those who oppose me, anyway. When I'm through here, we shall live in a perfect world – a world of only darkness!" the figure laughed sinisterly. "And with those Guardians out of the picture, no one will stop me from being the true and rightful ruler!"

He glared up at the ever-ticking clock still suspended above his head. With a wicked smile, he opened his right hand and a flickering ball of pure dark energy suddenly appeared inside it.

"This world is about to be under new management," he declared, "courtesy of me, the great King Shroude!"

Without warning, he launched the ball of energy directly at the clock. An enormous crack appeared directly down its middle before it exploded into particles of light, vanishing from sight.

The figure threw back his head and laughed cruelly, fearlessly, while the smaller ones around him began jumping up and down and chattering wildly. Their discordant voices echoed ceaselessly throughout the fortress of darkness…

––

**Paper Mario: The Temple of the Sun**

_Loading the save file. Do not touch the Memory Card in Slot A or the Power button._

_The save file has been loaded._

_Starting new game in File 1._

––


	2. Intro, Part II

Mario was dozing in his bed. It was a warm, fine day, just the kind you would want to spend at home relaxing. Even the famous hero of the Mushroom Kingdom needed a day off once in a while.

Today was not that day.

"EEEEYAAHHHH!!" he cried as the Mailbox SP at his bedside started blaring its signature tune. He was so startled he fell out of bed and crashed onto the floor.

"Have a nightmare, big bro?" asked Luigi from the other room.

"No," Mario muttered in irritation. After standing up and rubbing his aching back, he reached for his SP and flipped it open.

"Hey Luigi," he called, "I got an e-mail from Princess Peach. And it's for both of us."

"Really?" the green plumber scampered eagerly into the room and peered over Mario's shoulder, reading the e-mail along with him.

_Dear Mario and Luigi,_

_Toadsworth and I have decided to go on a vacation for a few weeks. I've been hearing all about a far-off country called Chronoside, and it sounds fascinating! There are so many sightseeing opportunities, especially in the capital city! Mario and Luigi, I would be delighted if the two of you would accompany us. I'm sure it will be a memorable experience!_

_Sincerely,_

_Princess Peach_

"Wow! Princess Peach wants us to go on vacation with her? That sounds like a blast!" Luigi said enthusiastically.

"'Chronoside'? I've never heard of that place," Mario mused to himself. "But then, we seem to be going to new places all the time."

"Huh… but we'll be gone for weeks. Do you think Bowser will cause any trouble while we're gone?" Luigi realized, looking fretful.

Mario scoffed. "Are you kidding? You, me and Peach will all be away. He'll probably be bored out of his mind."

Luigi brightened up. "Then, I say we do it, bro!" he cheered. "But hey, did the princess say when she's leaving?"

Mario glanced back at the e-mail. "Uh…"

_P.S. I'll be leaving today at three. If you want to go, please meet me at the castle before then!_

"At three? Uh, Luigi… what time is it now?"

Luigi looked up at the clock and blanched.

"Two forty-five?"

––

After _very _quickly packing at least two weeks of clothing, the brothers raced out the door and over to the castle as fast as they possibly could.

"Oh, Mario and Luigi! You came after all!" Peach cried joyfully. She and Toadsworth were already standing in front of the pink plane that had carried them to Isle Delfino and the Beanbean Kingdom.

"Um, Peach," Mario wheezed as he and Luigi stood panting and leaning against each other, "I think next time you should prepare a little longer before leaving on vacation."

Before long, the four of them had climbed into the plane which took off into the sky. Mario gazed out the window as the plane circled higher and higher above Peach's castle, the Mushroom Kingdom growing smaller and smaller beneath them before they finally ascended above the clouds.

The flight lasted several hours, and Peach spent most of the time gushing about all the places she wanted to visit in Chronoside. Mario had no idea how long it had taken Peach to decide to travel there, but somehow she had already planned out the entire trip.

"…and on Wednesday, we need to go this world-famous beach resort I've heard so much about! They say the hotels there are the grandest thing, they'd even put the castle to shame! Then if we have time left, we need to go mountain climbing – they say there are some wonderful quaint little villages up the mountains and everyone gets their picture taken there…"

"Sounds like we're in for quite a trip, eh bro?" Luigi muttered to Mario. "Well, it'll be a nice break from all the times you saved the world, huh?"

Mario sighed and covered his face in his hands. "Luigi, don't _ever _say that. You'll jinx it."

Luigi frowned sheepishly. "Ooh… sorry."

Mario eventually dozed off as he half-listened to Peach ramble on about all the places she had to visit – he thought he heard something about a circus. Before long, though, he found himself being shaken violently awake.

"Mario! Oh, Mario, we're here! Look out the window!" cried Peach.

Rubbing his eyes, Mario leaned over and gazed out the window at the landscape beneath them as the plane began to descend.

"We're in Chronoside! Finally!" Peach cheered, clapping her hands. "And look! There's the capital city, Soluna Town!"

Mario strained to see where Peach was pointing out. Sure enough, the plane was low enough that he could make out a moderate-sized town over the horizon.

"Doesn't look big enough to be the capital," Luigi remarked. Mario had to agree; it wasn't much bigger than Toad Town.

"Oh, but it's so full of historical importance," Peach gushed out, having a hard time containing her excitement. "It's where the clock tower is, and the temple, and – oh, I can't wait another minute! We have to go sightseeing right away! The _minute _we're settled in!"

Peach, of course, was true to her word. No sooner had the plane landed in Soluna Town, their destination, than the princess hurried everyone off as fast as she could, looking more and more agitated with every minute they lost. They checked into the modest-looking Hotel near the center of town, and less than an hour after they had arrived, they were off exploring.

_**Soluna Town**_

_**7:46 pm**_

"My word, princess! Slow down, would you?" Toadsworth gasped as he struggled to keep up with the three others. "We'll have plenty of time for sightseeing during this vacation! We don't need to see it all right now!"

"Oh, but I _want _to!" Peach laughed. "This place is just so fascinating! Don't you agree, Mario?"

"Uh…"

Mario had to admit, Soluna Town _was _quite a bit different from the other towns he'd been to before. The streets were cobblestone, and the buildings were largely brick and clay. Clotheslines were strung up high above their heads, connecting the buildings on either side of the narrow alleyway as people stuck their heads out the paneless windows and greeted each other.

It was much busier than it had looked from the plane. All around them, the streets were crowded with people of all species and dialects, wearing all manner of clothing from places Mario couldn't guess at. Dozens of conversations floated by his ears; he couldn't keep track of everything he was hearing.

The streets were lined with all kinds of shops and stands, many of them with colorful canopies above them. Some sold standard things – Mushrooms, Honey Syrups – while others sold dazzling jewelry and beads, or pottery, or even paintings.

What really drew Mario's attention, though, were the murals. On every blank wall they passed by, there was an enormous, bright mural painted over it – and invariably, it consisted of an intricate pattern involving a shining orange sun and a glittering silver crescent moon, usually with some stars surrounding them. On some of them, there also appeared to be the vague outlines of twelve dancing figures surrounding the sun and moon – six colored lightly, six dark.

"I've never seen so much culture in one town," Peach sighed dreamily. "We should have come here long ago!"

"Excuse me!" came a sharp voice from somewhere behind them. "You! You four! Wait right there!"

Mario and the others paused and turned around as the speaker walked up to them. Mario recognized him as a Doogan, although he was wearing the most ridiculous getup the plumber had ever seen. He had on a long, dark blue robe with sleeves that covered his hands, and some kind of turban with a large green feather sticking out of it. Mario was about to ask if he was some kind of magician, but decided against it.

"You're new in town, aren't you?" the Doogan asked in an accent Mario couldn't place. "I can tell. You look just like tourists. Taking in all the sights, eh?"

"Why, yes, we are!" Peach said excitedly. "Can you recommend anywhere for us to go? I want to see all the interesting things before it gets too dark out."

"Hmph. Why do you think I would stop you? My dear lady, I would be honored to give you all a personal tour myself!"

"Um… wait a minute," Mario cut in. Maybe it was just him, but he somehow didn't like the idea of putting all their trust in a strange man when they were so obviously new in town. "Who are you, exactly?"

"Ah, an excellent question," the stranger replied, his eyes flashing. "Names are most important, wouldn't you agree? But I am known as Rodolfo. Rodolfo the Doogan, in fact. My family has lived here in Soluna Town for generations. I know everything there is to know about this fair town – a historian, you might call me."

Peach's eyes were shining. Mario sighed – she was far too naïve for her own good.

"Princess Peach, do be careful!" Toadsworth exclaimed, voicing exactly what Mario had been thinking. "You mustn't go along with everyone you meet in a strange place like this. Especially when you're… you know… a _tourist_."

"Oh Toadsworth, you old fuddy-duddy," Peach sighed. "As long as all of us are together, what could possibly happen? Besides, don't you want to see all the sights?"

"Excellent, then! It's settled," Rodolfo declared theatrically. "Come, now, there's so much to be seen! Hurry up!"

"Uh, wait – " Mario began, but Peach was already scrambling after the eccentric Doogan, with Toadsworth frantically trying to keep pace.

"We'd better go with her, bro," said Luigi. "We sure don't want her getting lost in a place like this, do we?"

"No, we don't," Mario grumbled, reluctantly trudging along after them. The very _last _thing he needed in a strange town like this was Peach getting kidnapped again.

Fortunately, it seemed Rodolfo had no such intentions. Rather, he showed them around and pointed out all the historic buildings, the famous murals, and all the places to find a good Spicy Soup. Peach was absolutely thrilled, and even Luigi was starting to show interest.

"You know," the green plumber observed after a while, as they passed yet another sun-and-moon motif, "your guys' artwork seems to have a theme going."

Rodolfo flashed him a smile. "Very observant you are," he said. "Perhaps you would like to know the history behind this?"

Peach nodded very rapidly.

"You will definitely want to know this if you don't want to stick out like a sore thumb around here. It is the very cornerstone of our culture," he chuckled. "All across the land of Chronoside, we worship the passage of time. Night to Day, Day to Night. It represents the balance of this world, the forces that surround us on all sides. And of course, the Twelve Guardians."

"Who are they?" Peach asked immediately.

"The Twelve Guardians," Rodolfo went on. "One for every hour on the clock, it is said. Six of the Day, six of the Night. Time as we know it means nothing to them, for they dwell within the Temple of the Sun, apart from this realm. But they watch over us and protect us, making ever sure that Day and Night, Light and Dark, exist in perfect harmony."

Mario's thoughts were immediately drawn to the twelve dancing figures he had seen adorning some of the murals.

"That's fascinating," Peach sighed.

"Well, there's more," Rodolfo assured them, leading them on.

Before long, they had arrived at what appeared to be the town square. There was a huge area without any buildings or stalls over it – just open ground.

Rodolfo stopped and spread his arms. "_This_," he said, "is my favorite part of town." Mario skeptically glanced around – there was a thirty-foot radius surrounding them and the nearest buildings.

"Uh, where?" Luigi asked accordingly.

"Right here," said Rodolfo. "Look underneath you."

They did, and they all gasped.

Underneath their feet, spread out to cover the entire open ground, was the largest, most colorful mosaic Mario had ever seen. It was a circular pattern; one side of it was a silvery crescent moon, with silvery stars dancing off to the side of it. The side of the circle that wasn't moon was a vibrant gold and yellow sun, with waving sunbeams extending out of it. A mosaic like this must have taken years to make.

"Legend has it," Rodolfo explained as they continued to stare, "that _this _is the design that is found on the Aeon Clock."

Mario looked up. "The what?"

"The clock within the Temple of the Sun."

"Oh. Of course."

"And now," Rodolfo declared, "for our most important stop of all."

He led them across the mosaic to the other side, where the buildings reappeared. The one in the middle was by far the largest and most ornate building in town. It was two stories high and colored black, with a towering set of wooden double doors in the front and four decorative spires, one at each corner. Mario wasn't surprised to find Rodolfo leading them directly to it.

"What building is that?" asked Peach.

"That is the Soluna Temple, where we worship the Twelve Guardians," Rodolfo replied. "It is of upmost priority that we preserve it, for it has divine importance. It is said that if a time of great crisis should ever befall this world, and the Guardians must intervene, then the Soluna Temple will become a gateway to the Temple of the Sun, so that they may enter this world and set all things right again."

By the time he had finished speaking, they had approached the very front of the Temple and were staring up at it in awe.

"Can we go in?" asked Luigi.

"I'm afraid not," Rodolfo said firmly. "We are only allowed to enter on appointed days."

"Figures," Luigi muttered.

––

This town was an absolute nightmare. He hated it. He hated every inch of it. He must have been the only person alive who didn't believe in this Guardian nonsense, and yet he couldn't take a step without seeing some reminder of them.

Some people said the Guardians judged people. That was the last thing he needed. He was judged enough already. His mother had judged him to be an unfit son – that was why he'd left home all those years ago, of course. The police judged him every single day. A juvenile delinquent, that was what they called him. Something that was unfit to be seen in the fair town of Soluna. The other thugs who hanged around the streets at night judged him nonstop. They thought he was nothing because he was just a kid.

The only judgment he cared about was his own. And he judged himself to be just a guy who did what he had to do to get by.

He trudged across the mosaic, not paying attention to the other passerby unconsciously swerving away from him. Please. Like he'd bother to rob them out in the open like this.

His eyes were in desperate need of a break from all the gold and silver – and as the Soluna Temple passed by in the distance, they found one, in the unexpected form of two blobs of red and green.

He skidded to a stop and looked over. It was two weird-looking guys in overalls, gawking up at the Soluna Temple like the rest of the idiots in this town. These guys had "tourist" written all over them. What losers.

Well, they looked like rich losers, anyway. Rich dumb losers. Probably the kind that had their wallets hanging out and just begging to be taken.

Might as well give it a shot. This might actually be fun.

––

"So, these Twelve Guardians," Mario ventured after a while. Something told him he was going to be hearing and seeing a lot of them during this vacation. "What do they look like?"

"Well, no one knows, of course!" Rodolfo exclaimed as though it were obvious. "No one from this world has ever laid eyes on them!"

"So, how do you know they're real?" asked Luigi.

"Why, you don't need to see something to know it's real," Rodolfo chortled. "You can't see air, but that most surely is real, is it not? Just as love and time and friendship are all real?"

"But those are a little more _abstract_," Mario sighed, but decided to dismiss the argument.

"Do you think we'll ever see them?" Peach asked hopefully.

"Well, it's hard to say, miss. But each of the Guardians is said to reign over a different time of day, and some say that at that time, when their influence is strongest, they might – "

Mario didn't hear the rest of the sentence, as at that moment he had the wind completely knocked out of him. Something heavy landed on his back and pushed him to the ground, where he landed with a painful grunt. Whatever it was then leapt off of him, but he was in too much pain to see what it was, or do anything other than lay on the ground wincing.

"Hey, bro! That Goomba stole your hammer!" came Luigi's alarmed voice.

"What?!" With some effort, Mario lifted his head up and saw who the others were looking at; the person who had attacked him. It was indeed a Goomba, but one of the strangest-looking ones Mario had ever seen. He looked to be young, only sixteen or so. He was colored green like a Hyper Goomba, and around his head was tied a red bandana with white polka dots. Around his neck he wore a large, gold medallion on a chain. A single fang protruded from his disdainful sneer of a mouth, which was currently holding onto Mario's hammer.

"HEY! Give that back!" Mario shouted at him. The Goomba did nothing other than give him what he assumed was an obscene Goomba gesture before scampering off.

"Master Mario! You must apprehend that ruffian!" Toadsworth exclaimed.

"You don't have to tell me!" Mario snapped back, leaping to his feet and taking off after the Goomba. Thankfully the thief was no faster than a regular Goomba, and he couldn't outrun Mario for long. After a moment he doubled back and ran the way he had come, and Peach and the others immediately leapt in his way. After ducking and weaving around them, avoiding each of their grasps, he finally made an act of desperation.

Running up to the Soluna Temple, he bashed open the doors and scrambled inside.

"Come back here, you!" Mario shouted, racing in after him without a second thought.

"WAIT A MINUTE!! You can't go in there! It's forbidden!" came the distraught cry of Rodolfo as he flailed his arms in the air. But his protest came too late. Mario and the Goomba were already inside.

––

For a split second Mario couldn't see a thing. There was no light coming from within the deserted temple, and he nearly crashed into a wall. All he had to guide him were the echoing footsteps coming from the fleeing Goomba.

Reorienting himself, he realized there was a spiral staircase directly in front of him, and the Goomba was running up it.

"What are you doing with my hammer?!" Mario demanded as he took off up the stairs after him.

"Stealing it!" was his muffled response.

––

"Can't we go in there after him?" Peach demanded. Indeed she was trying to do just that, but having a hard time due to Rodolfo holding her back by her dress.

"OF COURSE NOT!!" he bellowed at her. "No one's allowed in there except on appointed days! It is our most sacred law, and we _must _abide by it! I already fear for what will happen to those two."

"Why? What's the worst that could happen?" asked Luigi.

"No one's ever broken our law before… could this be a sign?"

Everyone looked expectantly at Rodolfo, who was suddenly staring up at the sky. Everyone followed his gaze and saw what had just made him look so horrified.

Where the sky had once been clear, now a group of thunderheads was billowing up from seemingly out of nowhere, covering everything. They didn't look like natural clouds. They were colored a deep, sinister black, and seemed to be darker and more substantial than a cloud should be. Peach blinked furiously when she thought she saw a crackle of black lightning escape from one of them.

"Something is wrong," Rodolfo said gravely. "Something is very wrong."

––

"Why can't you just give it back?!" Mario yelled at the Goomba. Both of them had struck stances halfway up the stairs, glaring at each other.

"Why can't _you _just deal? Deal with the fact you're so fat and slow that I swiped this from you?" the Goomba shot back. Before Mario could respond, the Goomba swung Mario's hammer straight on the ground. Mario had to jump to the side to avoid taking a blow from his own hammer. The entire stairway shook as it struck.

"_Oh _yeah! This baby's _good!_" the Goomba gloated, holding the hammer up and admiring it. "I was thinkin' this thing would fetch for a nice coin, but maybe I won't hock it after all! _Everybody _will respect me with this bad boy!"

"Not gonna happen, buddy!" Mario growled, diving straight at the Goomba.

He was never completely sure exactly what happened after that. The Goomba evaded him and continued fleeing up the stairs, with Mario in hot pursuit, but before they reached the landing at the top he was suddenly struck by a blinding flash of light.

Mario cried out, shielding his eyes. He staggered backwards and almost felt himself falling back down the stairs, but quickly grabbed onto the handrail and steadied himself. He couldn't tell whether or not the Goomba was still there.

After he thought the light had died away, he cautiously lowered his arm from over his eyes… and stared.

The entire top floor was suddenly gone. In its place was nothing but a shining, writhing veil of purple and silver. Mario was so stunned he fell over on his seat, staring up at it. There was still something behind that veil, he felt – but it wasn't the temple.

The Goomba looked stunned for a moment as well – but then he remembered he was being chased. Clutching the hammer tightly to himself, he leapt up the remaining stairs and vanished through the veil without a trace.

"WHAT THE – " No hammer could possibly be worth this. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

He received no reply, and so, not knowing what else to do, Mario picked himself up, took a deep breath, and stepped through the veil himself.

He involuntarily let out a shudder as he felt himself passing through. Something cold ran over his skin and his breath caught in his throat. It felt almost as if he were plunging into a lake. It felt _wrong – _he shouldn't be here, he shouldn't be doing this – but it was too late to go back…

When he was on the other side, he opened his eyes.

The room he was in was _much _too big to be part of the Soluna Temple. It was so high he couldn't even see the ceiling. The floor and circular walls seemed to inexplicably shine and shimmer, as if they were made of starlight. Spread out in intervals along the walls were enormous windows that radiated nothing but light.

Mario didn't notice any of those things. He didn't even notice that the Goomba, who was standing right next to him, had completely forgotten about the hammer, dropping in from his mouth as he surveyed the scene in awe.

All Mario noticed were the twelve figures floating serenely in the middle of the room.

They looked vaguely humanoid, although their bodies trailed off where their legs would normally be. All of them were glowing so brightly it was hard to make out any facial features on them, but he was fairly sure their eyes were all closed and their heads bowed.

The twelve of them were in a circle, each one shining a different color of the rainbow. They were all equally beautiful, but Mario noticed the ones on one side of the circle were vibrant yellows, gaudy oranges and pale greens, while the ones on the other side were deep blues, mysterious purples and turquoises.

Then his eyes were drawn to the structure they were floating on top of.

It was an enormous clock, inlaid in the floor. And he had seen the pattern on it before.

"The… the Aeon Clock?" he wondered to himself, feeling his jaw drop. "But that means we're in the… and those guys… they're the…"

"No way," the Goomba growled to himself. Then again, louder and angrier: "No _way! _No _way _those Guardian guys exist! It's all just a load!"

Mario didn't even bother paying attention to the Goomba. He continued to stare at the twelve figures, wide-eyed in disbelief and reverence. They didn't seem to notice, or care, about the two intruders in their midst. It was as though he and the Goomba didn't even exist.

_That crazy old Doogan was right about everything_, he gawked. _Here I thought it was all just some superstition… but wait a minute! How did I even _get _here? I was just in the Soluna Temple and then…_

What had Rodolfo said about this? _If a time of great crisis should ever befall this world… then the Soluna Temple will become a gateway from the Temple of the Sun…_

"Crisis?" he wondered to himself. "That can't be good…"

And before he could think any further, the crisis came.

"Heh heh heh heh…" came a low voice from seemingly out of nowhere. Mario whipped around in surprise as a plume of suffocating black smoke suddenly came rising up from another corner of the room. He and the Goomba instinctively backed away as the area around the smoke began to distort, as though reality itself were being warped.

"HOO HOO HA HA HA!!" The laugh suddenly became much louder as a tall figure stepped out from the smoke, sweeping it away with his arms.

"Who is _that?!"_ Mario gasped.

The figure had dark blue skin covered in intricate black patterns, though most of it was covered in a fancy green suit. Underneath a shining silver band he wore on his head, he had an enormous amount of bushy black hair that covered most of his face and completely obscured his eyes. A long, flowing cape, so pitch black it seemed to absorb the very light around it, rested over his shoulders.

"The time has come at last!" the imposing figure laughed to himself. "The Temple of the Sun is finally mine!"

That, at the very least, seemed to get the Guardians' attention. They each lifted their heads up and turned to look at the intruder.

"You don't belong here," said one of the light colored ones, in a voice that seemed to come from far away. "Leave now."

"Now, now, that's no way to address your new master," the figure chuckled.

Mario was starting to panic. He had no idea what was going on, but he _did _know that he had no part in it. He quickly glanced behind himself, wondering if the veil was still there, if he could leave the same way he had come…

"Hmm? What's this?"

Mario realized too late that the intruder had noticed him and the Goomba. Before either of them could move, the cloaked man opened his hand, and out shot a bolt of black electricity. Mario and the Goomba yelped in shock as it completely surrounded them, encasing them in a force field.

"What are _you _two doing in here? Is there some kind of line to kill the Guardians of Day, or something?" the intruder scoffed. "Well, too bad for you. I call shotgun."

"You're going to _what?!"_ Mario cried in protest. Even the Guardians themselves suddenly looked uneasy, a ripple of disquiet passing through them.

"Maybe I ought to start at the beginning," the intruder laughed. He opened his hand again, and this time the ball of black energy that formed quickly morphed into an imposing-looking scepter.

"You may address me as the one and only King Shroude, Supreme Master of Night," he said smugly, twirling his scepter charismatically. "You see, I've been having a thought lately. _Why _is it, exactly, that we have both Day and Night in this world? We don't _need _them both, now do we? In fact, wouldn't we all be better off without all that pesky Daylight? The heat, the sunburns – who needs it?"

"You are _not welcome here_," said one Guardian. "No one is allowed to interfere with the balance of Day and Night."

"Don't interrupt while I'm monologuing!" snapped the one and only King Shroude. Without warning, he shot another bolt of energy at the Guardian who had spoken, hitting it directly in the chest. To Mario's shock, all twelve of them suddenly started shrieking in agony, clutching themselves tightly.

"As I was saying," the Master of Night continued, "it seems to me that Day is completely useless. So what say you all I do the world a favor, and just get rid of it? No one will miss it!"

"You're _crazy!"_ Mario shouted, feeling ridiculous, because he was trapped in here and there wasn't a thing he could even do.

"Crazy? That's what they say about all visionaries," laughed Shroude. "Now, you might wonder, how does one even go about getting rid of Day? It sounds impossible, doesn't it?"

He suddenly swept through the room, casting a ripple of shadow behind him as he went. "Well, you'll be glad to know I thought of an answer to that too. Isn't it true that Day is ruled over by the six Guardians of Day? Aren't they the ones who created it? Well, then, isn't the answer just as easy as getting rid of _them?"_

"You're threatening us," one of the Guardians of Day said in a steady voice. "We will not tolerate that."

"Oh, just shut up and die already."

Before Mario could even blink, King Shroude suddenly threw himself at the Guardians, brandishing his scepter, but almost immediately slammed into a wall of light that materialized out of nowhere. Mario turned and saw all twelve Guardians concentrating their energy on the barrier.

"So, you do have some fight in you," Shroude remarked in amusement. "Good thing for me I was just getting started."

He held his scepter up high, and it suddenly turned back into an amorphous blob of shadow before reforming once again, this time into a deadly-looking sword.

"The Guardians of Day will have their games ended!" he declared, bracing his sword. "And I will rule this world of Night!"

With one thunderous cry, he brought his sword crashing down on the light barrier. The Guardians braced themselves with all their might, but it was no use. A crack appeared in it, then another, until finally the barrier burst apart in a blinding flash.

King Shroude swung his sword one final time, slicing deftly through all six Guardians of Day.

––

"AAAARGH!!" Peach cried out as a horrific pain suddenly laced through her body. Every inch of her cried out in agony. She vainly tried to steady herself but instead fell limply to her knees, hugging herself and sobbing.

It felt like she was being torn in half.

She heard a chorus of cries similar to her own. She was vaguely aware that Luigi, Toadsworth, Rodolfo, everyone in Soluna Town was suddenly screaming in pain and collapsing all around her.

"What's happening?" she wanted to ask, but was in too much pain to even speak. She gritted her teeth and fought to stay conscious, struggling to see what was going on –

At first she thought her tears of pain were blurring her vision, but no – what she was seeing was real. All around her, the buildings, the people, the very sky seemed to be warping. They were swelling, bulging, shrinking, twisting. Her friends were all curled up on the ground, unable to even see what was happening around them.

In utter horror, Peach looked down at her hands. There were too many of them. She was seeing in double vision. It was as though two pictures of the world, superimposed on top of each other, were suddenly sliding back and forth, struggling to stay together but coming apart, like a television going out of focus…

––

The Guardians of Day existed for less than a second after the sword sliced through them. For one awful instant they screamed, their forms bulging and seeping light, and then they exploded, scattering into tiny particles that flickered for a moment and then faded from sight, disappearing forever.

The Guardians of Night shrieked in pain, in sorrow, in the utter wrongness of it all, curling up and sinking to the ground, completely powerless. Mario and the Goomba were in a similar condition. They were both suddenly overcome by a physical and mental pain so terrible it had to be felt to be understood. They both fell to the ground as their vision grew cloudy and everything began to fade from their minds, hardly even aware that they were screaming.

The only one who was unaffected was King Shroude himself, who let loose with a triumphant laugh so chilling that it would haunt Mario for the rest of his life.

The last thing Mario was aware of was a deafening tearing sound. The sound of an enormous piece of paper being ripped in half.

Everything went white.

––––

**A/N: **I take no credit for the name Soluna Town. That goes to my friend Meg. Hopefully though, you understand why I used it.


	3. Prologue, Part I

**Prologue:**

**A Break in Time**

––

_**Soluna Town**_

_**12:00 Noon**_

_What… happened?_

_Is it the end of the world?_

_Am I dead? I don't _feel_ dead…_

Mario had no idea how long he had been out, or where he was. He was too afraid to open his eyes.

_Those Guardians… they're really dead, aren't they? And those other ones…_

_Oh no… what happened to Peach and Luigi? I have to find them… I have to…_

Preparing for the absolute worst, he forced his eyes open.

He was shocked.

Soluna Town looked perfectly normal, its inhabitants going about their lives perfectly innocently. The sun was shining down as everyone wandered around the streets, talking cheerfully to each other.

Completely stunned, Mario turned over and realized he was lying on the ground in front of the entrance to the Soluna Temple.

_What am I doing out _here? he wondered._ How long have I been here? And… why hasn't anyone noticed me?_

He looked up at the clock tower and saw that it read exactly 12 Noon.

_What the – it's noon already? It was just after eight when I went in the Temple… it's been almost a day!_

"Luigi? Peach? Where are you?" he called, looking around for them. But the others were nowhere to be seen; he was alone.

Finally, he turned back toward the Temple and saw someone he recognized.

His eyes narrowed. "YOU!!"

"Uh oh," muttered the Goomba, still with the hammer in his mouth.

Mario dashed over and grabbed the hammer, but the Goomba refused to let go.

"_Look_," Mario hissed at him as he struggled with it, "I have no idea what's going on here, but I do know we both just saw those six Guardians get killed! This has just gotten way bigger than a stupid hammer! So would you just give it _back?!_"

As he spoke the last word, he thrust backward and finally pulled the hammer out of the Goomba's mouth, sending him staggering backwards.

"Ha! _Finally_," Mario sighed, stroking his hammer in relief.

"Screw you!" the Goomba spat. "I'll fight you for it, you fat hog!"

"You've gotta be kidding me," Mario groaned, but the Goomba meant business. Seeing no alternative, Mario entered the battle.

Thankfully, now matter how angry or violent this Goomba was, he wasn't any stronger than normal. He started off by running up to Mario and Headbonking him, which shook him up but didn't damage him too badly. Mario followed up with a Jump attack of his own. That alone would have been enough to finish off a regular Goomba, but this one didn't appear fazed.

"You'll have to do better than that," he sneered before delivering another Headbonk. Mario winced; this Goomba was a powerful fighter. He actually wasn't sure he would win…

The two of them continued trading blows until they were both struggling to stand. Mario noticed that a crowd had begun to form around them as they fought. Some people were watching in horror, while a few more immature members were egging the fighters on.

"Time to end this," Mario muttered. Deciding to give the Goomba a taste of karma, he ran up and delivered the finishing blow by whacking him squarely on the head with his hammer. The Goomba groaned and toppled over, finally defeated.

Several members of the crowd started cheering as Mario sighed to himself. "Now don't you ever bother me again," he warned the Goomba. "I have more important things to deal with."

Suddenly, the crowd began to part as two angry-looking Toads pushed their way to the front. Both of them were wearing policeman uniforms.

Mario saw them and blanched. _Uh oh. I'm in trouble. That wasn't exactly self-defense…_

Much to his surprise, though, the Toad policemen ignored him completely, instead walking straight over to the Goomba.

"_You _again?!" the first one demanded, hauling the Goomba to his feet. "Don't you ever stop causing trouble around here?! Now you're picking fights in the middle of the street!"

The Goomba replied by spitting in the Toad's face.

The second policeman walked up to Mario. "I must apologize, mister…"

"Mario."

"This Goomba has been wreaking havoc around here for months now. This isn't his furst run-in with the law. I must thank you for subduing him for us."

"Oh… no problem."

"However, I must still ask you to come down to the station with us," the policeman went on. "We'll need an eyewitness's account on what this fellow has just done."

"Oh, fine," Mario sighed resignedly. Maybe these guys could at least help him find Luigi and Peach.

––

Some time later, Mario found himself sitting in an uncomfortable plastic chair in the front room of the police station. He could hear the policemen interrogating the Goomba from an adjacent room. The young Goomba's voice rang out loud and clear, and Mario was shocked at some of the words he blurted out.

_What is _wrong _with that kid? _he wondered to himself. _I've never met anybody like him before. I doubt even Bowser is this much trouble._

He was really starting to worry about Luigi and Peach. He had to get out of here and find them as soon as he could. Even if the rest of the town appeared normal, they were missing, and that did nothing to allay his worry…

He glanced up at the clock on the wall, and was stunned to see that it read exactly 12 Noon.

_That can't be right. It's been at least twenty minutes_, he thought. _It must be slow. _Really _slow…_

At that moment, one of the Toad policemen stuck his head out the door. "Mister Mario, you're needed."

Reluctantly, Mario picked himself up and walked into the back room, which was empty except for a large table with a chair on either end. The Goomba was already occupying one, and he glared daggers at Mario as he sat down.

"Now, Mister Mario," said the first cop, "please tell us what this young man did when you first saw him."

"Whatever he says, it's a lie," the Goomba said sharply. "I'm innocent. I ain't done a thing wrong,"

"You'd better watch your mouth, Goomblaine," the second cop snapped at him.

Mario turned to him with a look of both shock and amusement. "Goomblaine? Your name's _Goomblaine?_" He made no attempt whatsoever to hide his laugh. "Oh yeah, that's a real gangster name all right."

The police had to restrain Goomblaine from throwing himself at him.

"Mister Mario, _please_," the first cop said impatiently.

"Oh, right. Sorry. Well, all right, my friends and my brother and I were getting shown around town by this local guy. He was showing us the Soluna Temple, and then all of a sudden this kid just jumps on me and makes off with my hammer."

"Mm hmm…" the cop was scribbling something down in his notebook. "And then what?"

"Well, I…" Mario quickly fell silent. The police would throw a fit if they found out he'd gone in the Soluna Temple… and he couldn't possibly tell them what he thought had happened after that. That he'd somehow entered the Temple of the Sun… and he'd seen someone murder the six Guardians of Day… that was outside the power of the police.

"Well, I tried to catch him, but he got away from me," he quickly invented, praying they would believe him. "So I went looking around town for him, but I didn't find him until just now. So the two of us went at it, and then, well, you guys showed up."

The cop nodded and continued to write. "All right Mister Mario, now when did you first see him. When did he take your hammer?"

"Well… that would have been last night, I suppose."

The cop glanced up from his notebook. "Last _what?_"

Mario blinked. "Last night?" he repeated.

The cop started looking impatient. "Mister Mario, this is a serious investigation. _Not _a time to be making up nonsense. Now when did you first see him?!"

"Nonsense? I – " Mario was getting confused. "I told you, it was last night! It was probably about a quarter after eight."

"Quarter after eight… eight in the morning, you mean?" the second cop spoke up.

The first one shook his head. "That's not possible. It's never eight in the morning here. It's always noon."

Mario thought his brain would split in two.

"You coppers are nuts!!" Goomblaine cried out. "Whaddaya mean it's always noon?! It was _night _out, you freaks! The old man was right about that much at least!"

"Goomblaine, you have no idea how deep you are in right now," the first cop told him in a deathly serious voice. "You're being charged with theft and assault, on top of all the other charges you've accumulated over the past few months. I'd suggest you keep your mouth shut."

"But I didn't _do _anything!"

"Yeah? It's your word against his. Frankly, I trust this man more than you."

He turned to Mario. "Mister Mario, thank you for your time. You're free to go."

"Um… thank you…" Mario said quietly, still shaken by this revelation. He felt too frightened to stand back up.

"Goomblaine," the cop went on, "locking you up in juvie hasn't done a thing, and even if you had any money, a fine wouldn't do at all. There's only one thing I can think of to get a lesson through that thick head of yours."

Goomblaine glowered up at him.

"You are sentenced to community service," said the cop. "You'll be helping out that guy."

He pointed directly at Mario.

"WHAT?!?" Mario and Goomblaine both cried.

"I don't want _him _following me around!" Mario protested.

"You ain't _getting _me!" Goomblaine snarled. "No _way _am I helping that lug!"

"I'm sorry, but you don't have a choice," the cop replied, not sounding sorry at all. "Maybe you should have thought of that _before _you attacked him and stole from him. You are sentenced to three months of community service, in the form of assisting this man in any task he requires of you. You'll be required to accompany him constantly."

"But I won't be here for three months!" Mario exclaimed.

"Fine, then. Goomblaine, assist this man for as long as he'll be staying here. When he leaves, we'll find something else for you."

"_This is so unfair!!_" Goomblaine shrieked.

"Life's not fair, kid," the cop replied unsympathetically, shoving him over to Mario's side. "Mister Mario, if you have any trouble with him, just let us know."

And the next thing Mario knew, he and the Goomba had been led outside and left alone.

"Okay, kid. Now listen," he sighed, fighting to contain his impatience. "Something _very _wrong is going on here. You saw those Guardians getting killed as well as I did. And now people are saying it's always noon here. And they seem to have _no _concept of the idea of Night. Have you noticed?"

"Yeah? So?"

"So?! Like it or not, kid, this affects you as much as anyone else! This whole town is out of whack! Now I have to find my friends and figure out just what is going on around here. And like it or not, you're going to help. You've got no choice."

"Yeah, sure."

"If you don't, the police will find something even better for you to do," Mario said threateningly. "And I'm sure they'll be so happy to hear if you attack me again."

Goomblaine gave Mario what was probably the most spiteful, hate-filled look he had ever received, holding it for a good ten seconds before finally caving in.

"All right, _fine_," he huffed. "But I swear, I'll get back at you for this. You just wait."

"Fine with me," Mario said to his new partner.

**_Goomblaine Joined Mario's Party!_**

_Goomblaine is a tough street Goomba who's nearly impossible to keep under control, but when he chooses to cooperate, his knowledge of Soluna Town and the outside world will be invaluable to Mario on his quest. He can give Mario information about any person, place, or thing in Chronoside. In battle, he can attack enemies with a nasty Headbonk, or use Tattle to reveal their stats and weaknesses._

"All right, mister genius, what do you suggest we do first?" Goomblaine growled.

Mario sighed, rubbing his forehead stiffly. This was going to be a long, hard vacation.

"We'd better find Rodolfo," he finally decided. "He'll know what to do."

Goomblaine didn't bother asking who Rodolfo was, and Mario wasn't in the mood to explain it to him. He just set off walking down the street, with Goomblaine following as far behind as possible.

Mario kept glancing uneasily around as he went. Everyone he passed by seemed to be completely normal. In fact, the whole _town _seemed normal. Looking around, there was nothing at all to suggest the horrible disaster that had just taken place.

Except for the fact that time was standing still.

"Mario? Oh, Mister Mario! _There _you are!"

"Huh?" Mario turned around to see an exhausted, disheveled-looking Rodolfo come staggering up to him. He leaned against the plumber, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Mario, I've been looking everywhere for you! Something has gone horribly wrong around here! I've completely lost track of those others you came here with, and – oh, I can't explain it, but there's something terrible going on, isn't there? I just know it!!"

"Woah, woah, woah, calm down," Mario replied, trying to sound reassuring. He grabbed Rodolfo's hand and lowered it. "Don't worry, you found me. Now look. You're right, something terrible _is_ going on. And I need your help figuring it out. I need you to tell me everything you remember about last night."

Just as Mario had feared, Rodolfo only responded with a confused look. "Last _night?_"

"It's when the sky gets dark, stupid!" Goomblaine shouted loudly enough to startle both of the adults. "Geez! Has _everybody _in this town gone mental?!"

Rodolfo only looked more puzzled. "I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about. The sky getting dark? That never happens."

"Yes, it does," Mario sighed. "Look over here."

He guided Rodolfo over to one of the murals on a nearby wall. On one half was a brilliant orange and yellow and covered by a bright golden sun, while the other half was dark blue and covered by a silvery crescent moon, surrounded by glittering stars.

Mario pointed at the dark half. "Do you remember that?"

Rodolfo stared carefully at it. "I… I'm not sure…" he muttered, looking like he was half-remembering something he'd forgotten long ago.

"Well, listen. Up until today, it was like that for half of every day. The sun went down and the moon went up, and it was dark and you could see all the stars."

"Are… are you sure? That just doesn't sound possible…"

"Trust me, it is. But something's happened to make it so it's always the same time here. Always noon. And I know what it is."

Rodolfo straightened up. "Well, pray tell!"

Mario took a deep breath. This would not be pretty.

"I was in the Temple of the Sun," he said quickly. "And I saw the six Guardians of Day. They were all killed."

Rodolfo stared at him for one long, horrible moment, and then fainted on the spot.

––

"This is unthinkable!! This is positively, utterly _unthinkable!! _It's the end of the world, I tell you! Surely we shall all perish!!"

It was half an hour later – at least it _would _have been, under normal circumstances – and Mario, Goomblaine and Rodolfo were all inside Rodolfo's cramped living room. Lining the walls were numerous bookshelves that were crammed and overflowing with aging, yellow books. Mario and Goomblaine were seated at a coffee table while Rodolfo was pacing back and forth, ranting and gesticulating madly.

"Who has ever heard of the Guardians being killed?! It's – it's a crime against life, that's what it is! Mario! Are you _positive _you saw this happen?"

"_Yes_," Mario sighed for what was probably the twentieth time.

"Look, man," Goomblaine said impatiently, "if you're not gonna do anything to help then just shut up and leave us alone."

"For your information, I'm trying to _think _of what to do!!" Rodolfo barked at him. "It's just that a disaster of this magnitude has never occured before in living memory! All six Guardians of Day killed! There have been stories about what would happen if _one _were ever killed – and they aren't pretty – but all _six!!_"

"What are those stories like? Maybe they'll give us a lead," Mario suggested.

"Oh, it's useless," Rodolfo moaned, leaning against a bookshelf. "All the stories say the same thing. That if a Guardian were ever to be killed, someone from this world would be chosen to take their place. That person would be chosen for their purity and bravery."

"Well, maybe that is what happened," said Mario, trying to be helpful. "I mean, maybe now six people from this world are going to become the new Guardians. And then we just have to find them, and… well, I don't know."

"That's very optimistic of you, Mario," Rodolfo sighed, "but how on earth are we going to find six completely random people? They're likely all over the world! And even _they _won't know who they are! How will _we _tell who they – OOMPH!!"

He had just tripped over something and went flying into the air, crashing back to the ground and causing the bookshelves to shake.

"Are you okay?" Mario asked worriedly, standing up. Goomblaine just rolled his eyes.

Rodolfo slowly got back to his feet. He was rubbing his head with one hand, and was holding in his other hand the object that had tripped him. He was staring at it.

"That's a nifty-looking hourglass," Mario remarked.

"I've never seen this hourglass before in my life," Rodolfo protested. "I don't own such a thing. I would certainly remember buying this."

"Hmm… can I see it?"

Rodolfo obligingly handed it over to Mario. It certainly was the best-looking of its kind Mario had ever seen. Its stand was an intricately carved, shining gold, and its glass was smooth and flawless, without a mark on it. The sand inside it was a glittering silver color, as though it were starlight.

"Something tells me there's something to this hourglass," he said to himself. "I wonder – "

Without stopping to think, he turned the hourglass over, and the sand began to fall.

He was mesmerized. As the glittering sand cascaded through the glass, the entire hourglass seemed to emit an unearthly glow. Even Goomblaine was staring in interest.

Suddenly, the glow became blinding. Mario cried out in shock and tried to drop it, and Goomblaine tried to scramble backwards, but they were both to late.

There was a brilliant flash, and then everything vanished.

––––

**A/N: **I'm so evil with these cliffhangers, aren't I?

Thanks to everyone who has already reviewed! Honestly, I wasn't expecting to get any reviews at all for a while.

Also, what do you guys think of Goomblaine? Not every day Mario gets a partner who hates him, huh? :P


	4. Prologue, Part II

_**Soluna Town**_

_**12:00 Midnight**_

As the light died away, Mario blinked furiously and shook his head to clear it. Having no idea what to expect, he looked around uneasily – but everything seemed the same. He and Goomblaine were still standing in Rodolfo's house.

"What the heck just happened?" Goomblaine demanded groggily, clearly still disoriented.

"I don't know," Mario said shortly. "Nothing, I think. Everything looks the same."

"Except that stupid dog is gone."

"Huh?" Mario just then noticed that Rodolfo was missing. He and Goomblaine were alone in the room.

"Where did he go? He disappeared!"

"Sweet. That's the best thing that's happened all day," Goomblaine smirked.

"Hey Rodolfo! Where'd you go?" Mario called out, clearly growing alarmed. Given the way this day had gone so far, _anything _could have happened to him. He looked around the room, then finally went to the front door and pulled it open…

…and stopped dead.

"What's your problem?" said Goomblaine, seeing the bug-eyed look on Mario's face as he stared out the door. He walked up to the door and shoved Mario out of the way to get a look.

"Oh."

It was night in Soluna Town.

"What is going _on _here?!" Mario cried out. "How is it night out all of a sudden? I thought we just decided that it was _never _night here!"

"Do you always upset this easy? 'Cause it's really annoying," said Goomblaine as he shuffled out the door after Mario. The plumber had already run out into the street, looking around in disbelief. The streets were now largely deserted, with only a few others wandering around in the late night darkness. As usual, though, no one seemed to be acting like anything was wrong. For a place where night wasn't supposed to exist, no one was treating it like an oddity at all.

Mario shook his head hopelessly. He had long since given up trying to figure out the reasoning behind all of this. Sinking to a sitting position in the middle of the street, he gazed at the hourglass which he still held in his hands.

"This must have something to do with me turning over the hourglass," he decided.

"Well, _duh_," Goomblaine scoffed.

Mario ignored him. "Excuse me," he said pleadingly to a female Toad who was wandering by. Seeing the agitated look on his face, she stopped.

"This will sound strange," he said, "but what time is it?"

The Toad raised an eyebrow at him. "What kind of question is that?" she asked. "It's always midnight here in Soluna Town, didn't you know? Or are you new here?"

"Yes… yes, I am," Mario sighed before the Toad shook her head and walked away.

Mario looked helplessly at Goomblaine as the irritated young Goomba walked up to him. "First it was always noon… and now it's always midnight. I don't understand."

Both of them were suddenly alerted by a very familiar voice.

"ACK! What are you? What do you want from me?! Unleash me right now, you scoundrels!"

"Rodolfo?" Mario jumped to attention and looked in the direction of the voice. At that moment, the Doogan himself came scrambling from behind a corner with terror in his eyes. Mario didn't stop to ponder what he was doing out of the house.

"Rodolfo, over here, man!" Mario alerted him, waving his arms, but his voice caught in his throat when he saw what was making the Doogan so afraid.

Leaping out from behind the corner and pursuing him were three creatures Mario had never seen before in his life – and that was saying something. They looked like little imps with broad, pointed ears and wide, toothy grins. Their skin was dark blue, and they wore nothing but brown vests and black pants. Behind each one of them swished a forked, demonic-looking tail. They were scampering after Rodolfo on all fours, though they were clearly bipedal.

"Leave me alone this instant! Have mercy!" cried Rodolfo, sounding on the verge of sobbing. He didn't get to say anything else, for at that moment the tallest of the three creatures grabbed onto him and slammed him into a wall.

"You've got somethin' else comin', asking mercy from a Darkstrider," the creature cackled, leaving Rodolfo whimpering. "We don't know the meaning of the word."

"I'm telling you, I haven't done a thing to you!"

"You overheard a very confidential conversation of ours," piped up one of the other creatures in a surprisingly high-pitched voice. "You know way too much already."

"Yeah! _Nobody's _supposed to know about the Sun Souls!" boomed the last of the three in a low voice that did not suggest intelligence. "We hid 'em, and just so long as nobody finds 'em, those Guardians of Day ain't _never _comin' back!"

The leader of the three turned from Rodolfo to smack the one who had just spoken. "Nobb, you _idiot! _Do you want _everyone _to hear about the Sun Souls? See, _this _is why we're always found out in the first place!"

Mario and Goomblaine exchanged wide-eyed looks.

"Sorry, Jaff," Nobb muttered. "I thought there weren't any harm, since – "

"Oh, forget it!" Jaff snapped before turning back to Rodolfo. "Anyway, even if you think you can find the Sun Souls, they're scattered all throughout Chronoside! You could never even think to recover them all, even _if _we were to let you live after this moment!"

Rodolfo screamed as Jaff raised a sharply clawed hand and prepared to swing it at him.

"_Not so fast!_" came a shout as Mario charged forward, bashing Jaff with his hammer. The leader of the three Darkstriders cried out as he fell backward onto the ground.

"Mario! There you are!" Rodolfo cried in relief. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"

Mario stared at him. "What are you talking about? You're the one who left the house! Where did you get off to?"

"The house? My dear sir, I don't know what you mean! I haven't been in my house all day!"

Before Mario could work out this addition to his endless list of confusions, he suddenly heard a snarl coming from Jaff.

"Oh, great. I bet you heard all that Sun Soul talk too, didn't you?" Jaff growled as the other two Darkstriders flanked him. "Well, looks like we'll have to end your game as well."

"Not likely," Mario replied, gripping his hammer and turning to his partner. "Goomblaine, are you with me or aren't you?"

"Oh, _fine_," Goomblaine exclaimed.

"Pell! Nobb! Let's go!" shouted Jaff as the Darkstriders leapt into battle.

Mario decided he'd better learn what he was up against. "Goomblaine, can you Tattle on them?"

"Whatever," Goomblaine growled. Mario watched, and was stunned to see the Goomba pull out a cell phone.

"What's that?"

"What? It's got Internet," Goomblaine said defensively, punching in buttons. "Okay. Darkstriders, the minions of King Shroude. They love nighttime and dark places. These ones are just regular Darkstriders, but they can still attack by swiping and using dark energy."

Mario only heard the first sentence. "You're minions of the guy who killed those Guardians?!"

"That's right!" Jaff cackled. "King Shroude has promised us this entire land of eternal Night in exchange for our service! You goody-goodies can keep your _Daytime _version of Chronoside. Not our taste."

Mario didn't have time to register this. Realizing it was his turn, he ran up to Jaff and delivered a Jump to his head.

"You'll regret ever messing with us," Jaff growled. "Darkstriders, attack!"

Pell, the smallest of the three, attacked first, giving Mario a good swipe. Nobb ran up second and attacked in a similar fashion, leaving Mario to clutch at himself in pain; Nobb was much stronger. Jaff was last to go, but instead of just swiping at them, he opened his hands as a pitch black ball of energy formed between them. He launched it at Mario, knocking off even more of his health.

"These guys are tough," Mario groaned.

"Amateur. You've never been in a street fight," Goomblaine scoffed. He flipped into the air and Headbonked Nobb good and hard, sending the Darkstrider reeling. Mario silently realized Goomblaine was smart to attack the strongest one first, but regretted having to admit it. Following suit, he ran at Nobb and hit him over the head with his hammer.

The fight continued like that, with both Mario and Goomblaine taking hits. By concentrating their attacks on one Darkstrider at a time, they finally removed Nobb from the fight, and Pell followed shortly after. Jaff was the only one left standing, but he stood smugly nonetheless; Mario and Goomblaine were almost out of energy.

"I told you," he sneered. "You should never mess with Darkstriders, especially when it's three against two!"

"Mario! Over here!" came a voice, and Mario was stunned to see Rodolfo. What was he still doing here?

"Here, catch!" Rodolfo shouted, pulling something out of his robe and throwing it at him. Mario instinctively reached out and grabbed it; it was a Mushroom.

"Wow, thanks," he said with a smirk. He quickly ate it and felt energy flowing back into him. This fight wasn't over yet.

"You cheater!" Jaff whined, stomping the ground. "No outside help! That's cheap!"

"Oh shut up, would you?!" Goomblaine demanded, giving the Darkstrider a particularly painful Headbonk. A few more rounds of fighting later, and Jaff was out for good.

"Ohhhh… _no!_" Jaff groaned as he and the others slumped on the ground. "Well, consider that a warm-up for our next fight, you punks! You haven't heard the last of us! Darkstriders never accept defeat!"

He leapt to his feet. "Pell! Nobb! Let's go!"

All three of them ran away, vanishing into the shadows, although Pell took the time to stick his tongue out at Mario before he left.

"My, that certainly was exciting," marveled Rodolfo.

"Uh, yeah," said Mario. Already he was thinking back to everything the Darkstriders had said. "Listen, Rodolfo… what did those guys say about those Sun Soul things? They sounded important."

"Oh. Well, Mario, I'm afraid that entails some very terrible news. You see, I overheard them talking, and – " He swallowed hard. "It seems the six Guardians of Day have been _murdered! _Can you believe it?!"

Mario blinked. "Rodolfo, we already knew that. _I _told you that. Don't you remember?"

Goomblaine rolled his eyes. "Geez, I thought you were at least a _little _smarter than you look," he said to Mario. "Don't you remember what that Jaff guy said? There's _two _versions of Chronoside now, remember? A Day one and a Night one? We just met the Rodolfo from the Night one."

Mario pondered this. "Huh. That explains a lot, I guess. And we traveled to the Night one by flipping that hourglass over."

"Excuse me, but I'm afraid I have no idea what you two are talking about," Rodolfo cut in.

Mario sighed. "Okay, Rodolfo. This is going to sound crazy to you, but Goomblaine and I just came from a Soluna Town where it's always _noon_. And furthermore, I think that entire version of Chronoside is always day, because no one even understands what night is over there. Are you following?"

Rodolfo blinked very slowly. "I… I think so…" he said. "And you say you met _me _there?"

"Man, this is deep," Goomblaine remarked. "I guess when those Guardian guys got killed, everything got thrown so out of whack… that Chronoside got split in two. And all the _people _got split too."

"Yes, 'out of whack' is certainly one way of putting it," Rodolfo fretted. "I couldn't even begin to imagine the horrors that would occur when I learned the Guardians had been killed… but this is simply unthinkable! It seems that without the Guardians of Day, Day and Night can no longer coexist together. And so they've been separated, in the most literal way imaginable."

"But, wait a minute," Mario protested. "Goomblaine and I didn't get split. What's up with that?"

"You two were inside the Temple of the Sun when it happened, were you not? You must have been protected."

"Oh. That makes sense," Mario decided.

Rodolfo nodded firmly. "Now, how did you say you got here? Something about an hourglass?"

"Oh, yeah. Here, you can see it," said Mario, pulling it out and handing it over to the Doogan. Rodolfo examined it for a long time, looking fascinated.

"This hourglass has the ability to travel through Day and Night," he marveled. "Could it be… is it possible… have we found the legendary Aeon Hourglass?"

"The what?" Mario and Goomblaine asked together.

"Oh, surely you two have heard of it!" Rodolfo said in exasperation. "It's one of the relics of the Guardians! It's said that they were able to control Day and Night with this! With the Aeon Clock, they are able to move between the hours of the day, and with the Aeon Hourglass, they move between Day and Night."

"Okayyyyy… so what was it doing in your living room?"

"Well naturally, I haven't the faintest idea!" Rodolfo cried, throwing his arms in the air. "My only guess is that the Guardians sent it here to this world with the last of their power, in the hopes that someone like you, Mario, would find it. If we want to fix this horrible mess, I'm certain you'll have to travel between both halves of this world."

Mario sighed deeply as Rodolfo returned the Aeon Hourglass to him. He should have known better than expecting to go on a vacation and actually get to relax.

"Well, we obviously do want to fix this," he decided. "So what about those Sun Souls?"

"Oh, yes. Mario, I'm sure you must be familiar with the legend of the Guardians. If one were ever killed, then a new person would be selected to take their place."

"Yeah. You told me. I mean, the other you told me."

"Yes, well, I believe that's what these Sun Souls are all about. You see, the Guardians' physical forms have been slain, but their souls, and their power, still endure. But I'm afraid the new Guardians will never realize their true selves until they bond with this power; these Sun Souls."

"Well, that King Shroude guy already took care of that. He had his goonies hide the Sun Souls all over the world," Goomblaine said impatiently.

"Indeed. Mario, Goomblaine, we have a daunting task ahead of us. It seems the only way of saving this world is to recover those six Sun Souls, _and _find the people who are destined to become the next Guardians. Once they have come into their power, I believe balance will be returned to this world, and we will have a way of defeating Shroude."

"Well, how do we know who the new Guardians even are?" Mario exclaimed. "You said yourself, even _they _won't know who they are."

"Yes, it's quite a problem," Rodolfo sighed, sitting down on a nearby doorstep. "But, I have a theory, Mario. Not including Soluna Town, which is at the very center of the land, there are six different regions in Chronoside. I would not be at all surprised if one Guardian were to come from each of these regions, and likewise, it makes only sense that one Sun Soul is hidden in each of those regions. I think the best thing to do would be to travel to each one and investigate."

"Great," Mario groaned. Goomblaine didn't look too thrilled at the prospect either. "So where to first, then?"

"Well, hang on a moment," said Rodolfo. He began fishing around in his robes before he pulled out a rolled-up piece of paper.

"This is a map of Chronoside. You'll probably need it," he said, handing it to Mario. Mario obligingly took it and unrolled it. Sure enough, Soluna Town was in the dead center of the map, and surrounding it, he thought he could distinguish six separate regions, judging by the geographical changes. They were arranged around Soluna Town in a near perfect circle… almost like numbers on a clock.

"Well, look here," said Mario, pointing toward the region that was due south of Soluna Town. "There's a nice-looking town here… Fleetmont? And there's woods right by it, the Fleet Forest. It looks like a safe place to start."

"What, afraid of danger?" Goomblaine snorted.

"Fine, fine," Rodolfo agreed, waving his hand. "I've heard Fleetmont is a fine place. If you can't find anything there, you'll get a lead for sure. There's a Warp Pipe on the south side of town that will lead you there."

"Great. Well… I guess that means we'd better get going."

Rodolfo nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, but one more thing before you do."

He reached into his sleeve again and pulled out a small, silver Badge shaped like a hammer. Mario broke into a grin as it was placed in his hands.

"This is a Power Smash Badge," said Rodolfo. "You know all about Badges, yes, Mario?"

"Oh yes. Trust me," Mario assured him, quickly putting it on. "Thanks a lot. That'll be a big help."

"Good luck, both of you. Remember, it's essential that you find the Sun Soul _and _the person it belongs to. I fear for what will happen to Chronoside if we don't right this wrong soon enough."

"You mean besides what's happened already?"

"I'll wait here in Soluna Town in case you two need help. And I'm sure my… er… other self will do the same. So come back here anytime."

"Will do," said Mario with a nod. "Oh, but Rodolfo… please keep an eye out for Luigi and Peach and Toadsworth, would you?" He felt guilty for nearly having forgotten about them. "I've looked all over and can't find them. I'm really worried something's happened to them."

"I can't imagine who would want to harm them, but of course I'll look for them," Rodolfo promised. "I'll start even now. You two just worry about those Sun Souls."

"All right. Come on, Goomblaine… we'd better go."

Muttering something to himself, Goomblaine tailed after Mario as he headed across town. Mario was gazing intently at the map as he walked, looking at all the different places he and Goomblaine would probably have to visit. Outside of Soluna Town were mountains, beaches, and even a sprawling desert.

_Six Sun Souls, six Guardians… they're all hidden out there somewhere. And we'll find them all._

"Excuse me?"

Mario jolted to a stop and looked up. He and Goomblaine had reached the south side of Soluna Town while he had been lost in thought, and in front of them was the Warp Pipe in the ground that he assumed led to Fleetmont. But someone else was in their way.

"Sorry, but I'm afraid I can't let you through," said the Toad guard standing in front of it.

Mario was stunned. "Why not?"

"Haven't you heard? There have been dangerous sightings going on," the guard said seriously. "People have been claiming to see strange blue creatures running around and attacking people. It's incredibly unsafe."

_Darkstriders_, Mario thought.

"So what, we're stuck here?!" Goomblaine demanded.

"I'm afraid it's only safe," the guard said frankly. "Until these creatures go away, Soluna Town will have to be quartered off."

Mario blinked. "Um, but it's really important that we – "

"I'm _sorry_, but it's the rules," the guard repeated.

Mario groaned, shaking his head. Not knowing what else to do, he turned around and started walking back the way he had come. He hadn't even _started _this adventure and already he was at a roadblock.

Goomblaine stared incredulously after him for a moment before running to catch up with him.

"For real? Are you _really _this thick?" he hissed at Mario.

"What are you talking about? You heard the guy. We'll have to find another way out of here."

"Or _not_. That guy said they're only closing the town off because of those blue freaks."

"Yeah?"

"So if they were gone, we could leave."

"Right, but – "

"They're only around at _night_."

Mario stared at him for a long time before it seemed to dawn on him.

"Ah _ha_," he said with a sly grin. "You know what? You're a pretty smart guy."

"Whatever. Just get us out of here."

Mario frowned slightly. He hadn't expected Goomblaine to accept his compliment, but still…

Withdrawing the Aeon Hourglass, Mario took one more moment to admire the sparkling gold and silver that comprised it. Then he turned it over in his hands.

There was a flash, and they were gone.

––

_**Soluna Town**_

_**12:00 Noon**_

Mario looked around and smiled. They were standing in the exact same position, but now the sun was high in the sky and the streets were flooded with chatting people. He looked over at the Warp Pipe. Everything was clear.

"Well," said Mario, "here goes nothing."

The two of them jumped inside, leaving the town behind them.

––

**A/N: **OKAY! Exposition-heavy chapter is over! Sorry if it got boring at the end, but now the real story starts, so stick around. Next update, we get to meet Mario's second partner…


	5. Chapter 1, Part I

**Chapter 1:**

**Through a Dark Forest**

––

**_Fleet Field_**

**_6:00 am_**

Mario had barely even taken a step out of the Warp Pipe before he tripped and fell over in surprise.

Something was very different about this place.

"Hey, Goomblaine," he said uneasily, "wasn't it just noon a second ago?"

"Yeah?" the hotheaded Goomba muttered as he walked up behind him.

"Well… it's not anymore."

He pointed up at the sky.

Rather than being the bright blue of midday, it was now a pale pinkish orange, still clinging to the last traces of nighttime darkness. The air around them was cool and mild, and the grass was laden with dew. The sun was no longer at its zenith, but was now resting just over the horizon, as though it were just beginning to rise.

"All right, that's messed up. I'll give ya that," Goomblaine conceded.

Mario shook his head in astonishment. "This is crazy," he muttered.

"Well, it's not _that _hard to figure out," Goomblaine said impatiently. "It's always noon in Soluna Town, right? So it must be, like, always dawn out here."

"Where _is _here?"

Goomblaine rolled his eyes in exasperation. "We're in Fleet Field, genius. We just follow the path south and it'll lead us to Fleetmont in a little while. And there ain't anything dangerous out here, so don't be whining about that."

Now that he had recovered from the shock a little, Mario stood up and looked around. Fleet Field looked like a really nice, even beautiful place. There was grass on all sides of the little path they were standing on, dotted with little white flowers. The ground periodically dipped and rose in gentle hills, and the path stretched off and vanished in the distance.

"All right, Goomblaine," he sighed, dusting himself off. "You obviously know your way around here, so why don't you lead the way."

"Great idea," Goomblaine muttered sarcastically. Without waiting another moment, he set off down the path, and Mario followed after him, still a little shaken by this revelation.

"This whole Day and Night thing is going to drive me crazy," he muttered.

Mario and Goomblaine walked along in silence for most of the way. There wasn't much else to see, besides the occasional tree or creek that they had to wade across. Mario couldn't help but notice, though, that no matter how long or how far they walked, the sun wasn't moving at all. Time, it seemed, was frozen here as well as in Soluna Town.

As it turned out, Fleet Field was populated largely by Goombas, as well as their relatives, Spiky Goombas and Paragoombas. He didn't bother having Goomblaine Tattle on them, since he knew these enemies forward and backward. All they really did was cause a nuisance. The high point of the trip was definitely finding a Close Call Badge.

"Hey Goomblaine," Mario ventured after he'd finished off yet another Spiky Goomba who'd tried to get in his way, "you know how much farther it is? I think we need to stock up on supplies pretty soon."

"_No, _I _don't _know," Goomblaine snapped back at him. "Now just do me a favor and stop talking until we get there, all right?"

"Sorry. I just – "

"Yeah, I don't care what you _just_."

Mario frowned and watched after him as he kept walking. Rather than following after him, he sighed and sank to a sitting position in the grass, looking around dejectedly.

Not a lot of things frightened him anymore. He could face down almost any manner of monster or disaster without breaking a sweat. He'd even helped to prevent the destruction of every world in existence.

But this was a step beyond even that. He was in a world where time was split in half. And that just shouldn't be possible.

If he'd had someone there with him, someone dependable he could confide in, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Maybe he wouldn't be feeling so vulnerable right now.

This was certainly not the first time he'd been alone in an unfamiliar place, with only a Goomba to guide him. It felt similar to those old times… but at the same time, it felt completely different.

Back then, he'd at least been traveling with a friend. Now…?

"This is hopeless," Mario sighed to himself. "How can I trust him if he doesn't even like me?"

_Aw, don't be sad, Mario._

Mario nearly jumped out of his skin. A very familiar voice had just echoed in the back of his mind. He hadn't heard it in ages, but he recognized it instantly. It too belonged to a Goomba – a much different one, one he knew very well. Whenever he had looked at Mario, it had never been in scorn; only friendliness.

_Not everybody in the whole world is gonna like you, you know, _said the voice. _I thought you would be used to that by now._

"I am," Mario assured it. "It's just… I've never had to _work _with somebody who hated me so much. Even when Bowser and I have had to work together, I think we had a little respect for each other. This guy… he just wants to get rid of me."

_Well, what does _he _know? _came a second voice, and Mario was surprised all over again. This one was female, and spunkier and sassier, but no less kind.

"Easy for you to say. You don't have to deal with him," Mario reminded it.

_Mario, are you the famous hero we know, or aren't you? _the second voice persisted. _C'mon, who cares what this one guy thinks of you? But if it's really bugging you that much, maybe you should just get to know each other, don't'cha think?_

_Yeah. You just keep showing him what a great guy you are, and he'll warm up to you eventually, _the first voice agreed.

"It's hard to be nice to him when he won't even cut me any slack. He doesn't even _try _to understand me."

_Have you tried to understand _him_? _asked the second voice.

Mario was caught off guard by the question. He blinked furiously.

_No… I haven't, really._

There had to be a reason Goomblaine acted the way he did. There was always a reason.

Not all of his old friends had liked him right away. But he'd always done something – showing them kindness, giving them a glimmer of hope… or just doing what they wanted of him and proving his worth.

"This won't be like those times," he said to the voices, although he could tell they weren't there anymore.

"Who are you _talking _to?!" came another voice, one much more real and tangible. Mario looked down and saw Goomblaine staring up at him.

"I… uh…"

Goomblaine shook his head. "Freak," he muttered. "Come on. I'm sick of this place already."

He set off briskly, not even waiting for Mario. Very reluctantly, the plumber started wandering along behind him, now feeling more than ever what he had lost.

_This won't be like those times at all._

––

**_Fleetmont_**

**_6:00 am_**

By Mario's estimation, it took them a little under an hour to travel from Soluna Town to Fleetmont. Of course, it was seeming completely obsolete to measure time like that anymore, because it was the exact same time now than it had been when they had first started out.

In any case, though, he had an hour's worth of fatigue built up in him, and so was happy when they finally approached the front gate leading into Fleetmont.

"Do you know who lives in Fleetmont?" he cautiously asked Goomblaine.

"Bunch of Koopas and Hammer Bros, I think," his partner replied callously. "Probably some other guys too. I don't really care."

As they passed through, Mario looked around at the town. It was much smaller and more residential than Soluna Town, reminding him quite a bit of a few certain towns he'd been to in the past. There were a few houses lined up, along with a shop and a Hotel. The ground was all grass, except for the very center of town where a few dirt paths led up to a fountain.

Just as Goomblaine had said, there were a few Koopas standing around, although they were outnumbered at least five to one by Hammer Bros. Mario thought that was pretty strange, especially since a lot of them were pacing back and forth in a very militaristic fashion. Some of them also seemed to be stationed outside of the buildings.

"Weird looking place," he decided. "What do they need all these guys standing around for?"

"Hello there! You two are travelers, aren't you?"

Mario and Goomblaine turned to see an older-looking Hammer Bro come marching up to them. He looked a little hardened from years of duty, but cheerful nonetheless.

"Uh, yeah, we are," Mario replied, still glancing around at all the other Hammer Bros.

"Well, welcome to Fleetmont," said their greeter, grinning broadly. "We're a humble little place, but we always enjoy receiving visitors. What may I do for you?"

"Well actually – " Mario began, but Goomblaine cut him off.

"Hey, man, what's the deal with all these Hammer Bros standing around, huh? You look like you're fighting off some kind of invasion."

"Oh, no, nothing like that. These Hammer Bros are the elite police force of Fleetmont. They're the pride of the town," the Hammer Bro assured them. "As a matter of fact, I'm the chief of police here. My name is Sergeant Sledge."

"Uh, nice to meet you, sir," said Mario. "But actually, we weren't planning on staying in town for too long."

Sergeant Sledge looked disappointed. "Oh, won't you? I'd be happy to show you around. You know, the flowers this time of year are – "

"He said _no_," Goomblaine snapped. "We're just here because we're looking for something called a Sun Soul. Heard of it?"

Sledge blinked. "Uh, well, I'm afraid not. What does it look like?"

Mario opened his mouth to answer that question, when he realized he had absolutely no idea.

"I… don't really know," he admitted. Goomblaine squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head in embarrassment.

"Well, there's not much I can do for you then," said Sledge, raising an eyebrow. "Now, is there anything else you need as long as you're staying here?"

"Well…" Mario was about to say no, when he thought of something. If he was going to have to deal with time being messed up like this, he'd better figure out exactly how it worked.

"Actually, there is," he replied. "It's always the same time here in Fleetmont, right?"

Sledge gave him a strange look. "Of course. It's always six here. You didn't know?"

"I'm new around here," Mario apologized. "As a matter of fact, I'm not sure how the whole time thing works here in Chronoside at all."

"Ah, well, it's easy enough," Sledge assured him. "In Soluna Town it's always noon, naturally, because it's at the center of things. Everywhere else, time is relative to its location. Take Fleetmont. We're furthest south, so it's six here, just like on the clock."

"Ohhhhhh," Mario said with a comprehending smile. "So, if we were to go, say, clockwise from Fleetmont, would time pass as we went? Until it was seven and eight, like that?"

"You got it. In fact, the Fleet Forest is northwest of here, so it's between seven and eight most of the way through. Normally I'd recommend going to see for yourself, but right now that's not the best idea."

"Why not?" asked Goomblaine.

Sledge suddenly began to look much less cheery.

"You must not have heard," he began, "but there's something strange going on in that forest. People having been vanishing in there, and they haven't been coming back. Even some of the most elite members of my Hammer Force have gone."

Mario's eyes widened. "Really? And you don't know why?"

"Whoever said that? We know it has something to do with the monsters."

Goomblaine rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Oh, monsters! Is _that _all!"

"What _kind _of monsters?" Mario asked cautiously.

"They actually showed up here a while ago," said Sledge. "From what we've seen of them, they're some kind of strange-looking birds."

Now Mario was getting skeptical. "How dangerous can a bunch of _birds _be?"

"Oh, these things are birds of prey, I assure you that," Sledge replied, his voice turning serious. "Anyway, they were never much of a problem before now. But just recently, people have been claiming to have seen something strange appear in that forest that seems to have sent the birds stir-crazy. And now, they're attacking anyone who goes in. Oh, it's a bad state, I tell you."

"Hmm…" Mario felt like he'd just made a breakthrough. "What was that strange thing that appeared? Do people know what it looked like?"

"You think it's that Sun Soul of yours, do you?" Sledge asked him. "Well, it's possible. All people seem to know, though, is that it's big and glowing. Really does sound like a sun, when you put it that way."

"Yeah! That's _gotta _be it!" Mario cheered, and started striding off without another thought. At least he tried to, but Sledge had grabbed him by his overalls before he'd gone three steps.

"What are you _doing?_" the Hammer Bro demanded of him. "You're not honestly thinking of going in there, are you?"

"We don't have a choice," Mario said shortly, pulling himself out of Sledge's grip. "You probably wouldn't understand, but we _need _to get that Sun Soul. And if you want, we can take care of those birds in there while we're at it."

"Since when?! They're not _our _problem!" Goomblaine shot at him, but Mario motioned him to be quiet.

"Hmm…" Sledge folded his arms. "I'd really rather you didn't risk it. I don't want to have any more disappearances. The town's pretty broken up as it is."

When he saw the pleading look from Mario and the exasperated look from Goomblaine, however, he relented. "…But if it's really that important to you," he said, "I could let you go with a few members of the force as escorts."

"That won't be necessary," Mario assured him.

"Well, you _have _to have some means of defending yourself in there! You can't honestly expect to walk in there unarmed and – "

"Excuse me, sir," Mario interrupted, pulling out his hammer and holding it out for Sledge to see. "Not to brag, but I'm a bit of a Hammer Bro myself."

Sledge lifted his helmet up slightly, getting a good look at Mario's hammer. "Erm… do you have a lot of experience using that thing?" he asked skeptically.

"Trust me. I have plenty."

Sledge shook his head. "You must be either very brave or very foolish if you still want to go. Well, I can't stop you, I suppose. But at _least _stock up on supplies before you go. You might be stuck in there for a long time."

––

The Fleetmont Shop, Mario soon found, sold entirely standard wares; Mushrooms, Honey Syrups, POW Blocks, and the like. He didn't know why, but it comforted him to see such familiar things. They reminded him of home.

"What can I do you for, gentlemen?" asked the green-shelled Koopa who ran the shop.

"Well, my friend and I are going on an expedition to Fleet Forest," Mario replied. "What would you recommend?"

The Koopa quickly blanched. "I'd recommend you get your head examined," he said frankly. "Haven't you heard about the monsters?"

"We're headed over there to investigate," Mario assured him, but all he got in response was a worried shake of the head.

"You fellas are crazy. If you're really set on going in there, I'd say empty your pockets while you can. But lemme tell you, we _don't _sell Life Shrooms here."

"I doubt we'll be needing them," said Mario, trying to sound confident, although at this point he was starting to worry. Was there really something truly dangerous hiding out there in the forest?

Trying to dismiss the thought, he walked up to the counter and casually grabbed a few Mushrooms and Syrups. Pausing to count his money and think a little longer, he also snatched up a Fire Flower and, just to be on the safe side, a Tasty Tonic.

"Is there anything _poisonous _in Fleet Forest?" Goomblaine asked skeptically as he saw Mario reach for the Tonic.

"You can't be too careful," was his response.

"You sure I can't convince you guys not to go?" asked the Koopa as Mario laid his coins down on the counter. "I'm tellin' ya, people are whispering conspiracy about this."

"Don't worry about us," said Mario, giving the Koopa a wave as he and Goomblaine walked out the door with their items in hand. "It's nothing we can't handle."

Now, though, he was no longer sure that was true.

––

Mario got directions toward the forest from a still-worried Sledge, and after he'd checked and made sure all their preparations were done, he and Goomblaine were off. As they passed through the town, though, he was quick to notice all the other Hammer Bros muttering to each other and glancing at them.

"You guys are really going into the forest?" one of them piped up.

"Yeah. And it's none of your business, so just shut up," Goomblaine shot back.

"Man, you guys are nuts," said a second one. "Even we can't handle it in there, and we're the best guys for the job. Well, _most _of us are, anyway." Several others began snickering at his last remark.

"We'll be fine," said Mario, starting to lose his patience. "And if we can help it, we're getting rid of those birds too. Now I'll see you guys later."

The Hammer Bros just shook their heads some more and let the two of them pass.

"I _never _wanna see another Hammer Bro again," Goomblaine hissed as they walked past the outskirts of town, heading down the long path that would lead them to the forest entrance.

"I feel that," Mario sighed. "…Hey, Goomblaine… look."

As they had been walking, Mario had suddenly glanced up at the sky. Now that he was looking at it, he was sure that the sun was all of a sudden starting to rise. Ever so slowly, the sky was growing brighter.

Mario stopped and laughed. "Look at that," he said. "Finally, the thing starts moving again."

"Like that dude said. We're goin' clockwise, so time is goin' too," Goomblaine reminded him.

Mario smiled. It felt encouraging to see the sun rising like it was supposed to, even though it seemed to be going much faster than normal. He and Goomblaine hadn't been walking for more than twenty minutes before they reached the entrance to the forest, and the sun was much higher than before.

**_Fleet Forest Outskirts_**

**_7:00 am_**

"I think we're here," Mario remarked after a while. Several minutes ago, the trees they had been walking past had started to grow closer and closer together until their branches covered up the sky. They were definitely within what you would call a forest now.

"Well, you know what we do now," Mario said to his partner. "Kill the monsters, get the magic relic of power, save the town. Standard fare."

Goomblaine shook his head. "You really think we're just gonna waltz into Fleet Forest and nab that thing? You think it's easy as all that?"

"Well, it's the only lead we've got. We're just lucky we haven't run into any setbacks so far."

"You shouldn't have said that."

"Why not?"

"Look up ahead."

Mario did, and he groaned. Up ahead of them was a locked metal gate, and he could see Fleet Forest continuing on behind it, the grass growing taller and the trees growing thicker. Just a metal gate wouldn't have been much of a problem, but there was someone leaning on it, guarding the way.

It was another Hammer Bro, although it was a pretty unusual one. For one, this one didn't even have a hammer with them, and was just leaning against the gate, legs crossed and empty arms folded.

For another, this one was a girl.

She had two long, brunette braids tied together with red ribbons coming out of her matching red helmet, and she was wearing a white T-shirt with red sleeves and a pink heart in the middle. She was looking fairly bored as she stood at her post, but the instant she saw Mario and Goomblaine, her eyes widened and she snapped to attention.

"Uh… I'm sorry, but nobody's allowed to pass through here," she said quickly.

Mario frowned. "What? Why not?"

"Sorry… it's kind of a new rule. People have been saying there's monsters that have taken over Fleet Forest. So, I'm kind of guarding the way."

"Dude, what are you talking about? We just talked to your boss, and he said we _could _go in," Goomblaine said with his usual lack of patience.

The girl didn't seem to acknowledge Goomblaine, however, as she was now closely studying Mario. All of a sudden, her eyes lit up.

"Hey, wait a sec – I know you!" she exclaimed. "I dunno why I didn't see it right away! That hat, that mustache – you're that famous guy from the Mushroom Kingdom, right? You're Mario!"

Mario was taken aback; he hadn't expected anyone from Chronoside to know who he was. All he could do was smile sheepishly and say "Yeah, that's me."

"I'm Hanner. As you can see, I'm a Hammer Bro," she introduced herself. "Or… well, I'm a girl, so would that technically make me a Hammer Sis? It's confusing."

"This girl is a real genius," Goomblaine muttered under his breath. Mario shot him a glare.

"Well, actually, to be honest, I'm not really a Hammer anything right now," Hanner sighed, rubbing her arm. "Y'see, I kinda lost my hammer a little while back."

"You lost it?" Mario raised an eyebrow. "I thought hammers were the most important things to you guys. How'd you _lose _it?"

"I don't know! It's like one minute I had it, the next it was gone! It wasn't my fault, I swear."

"Yep. A real bright bulb," Goomblaine smirked.

"I can hear you, you know!" Hanner shouted at him. "Look, Mister Mario – I'm really sorry, but it's my job to guard this gate. Even if I don't have my hammer, I have to do my job. You understand, right?"

Mario sighed. "Sure, I guess," he said. "Don't worry about it."

Hanner looked relieved. She clearly didn't want to be on Mario's bad side. "Thank you. Believe me, if they want Fleet Forest closed off, it's for everybody's own good."

Mario just waved her off, turning around and going back with Goomblaine closely at his heels.

"Well, _now _what?" the Goomba fumed.

"Don't worry. I have a plan," Mario said with a smile. He quickly withdrew the Aeon Hourglass.

Goomblaine didn't look impressed. "How's that gonna help?"

"This is how we got past the guard in Soluna Town, remember? Maybe the Hanner in Nightside isn't at the gate."

Goomblaine raised an eyebrow. "'_Nightside_'?"

"Oh… yeah," said Mario, looking embarrassed. "Well, I figured since there's not really a Chronoside anymore, there's just the two halves, we should call them something so we can tell them apart. So, they're Dayside and Nightside. Get it?"

Goomblaine gave him an incredulous look. "You are _such _a freak."

Mario just shook his head at him. "All we have to do is get past the gate in Nightside, then warp back to Dayside and we'll be good to go. Simple as that."

"Fine. Whatever. Not like we have any better ideas."

Mario turned the hourglass over, watching as the shimmering sand fell hypnotically through the glass, and then felt himself enveloped by the familiar flash.

**––––**

**A/N: **If you guys have ever read the Abarat book series, you probably recognized the gimmick of every location being a different time of day. Yes, I have no originality. -_-


	6. Chapter 1, Part II

**_Fleet Forest Outskirts_**

**_7:00 pm_**

Mario glanced around once his vision had cleared. As usual, he and Goomblaine were standing in the exact same place, but now the scenery around them had changed. Rather than the pale light of dawn seeping through the treetops, it was now dusk in Fleet Forest. The sun had just vanished, and light was beginning to drain from the world… though as he well knew, it would never drain any further until they started moving.

"Well, we're here. Now what?" asked Goomblaine.

Mario quickly turned in the direction of the gate and ran back toward it. He arrived there momentarily, and let out a broad grin. Hanner was nowhere to be seen.

"You see?" he said triumphantly to Goomblaine. "We just have to think fourth-dimensionally."

"Terrific. Now let's go."

The duo had no problem sliding through the bars of the gate, and after that, they set off down the path through Fleet Forest. As they walked, it began to grow darker and darker and it grew harder for Mario to see. However, he was still able to make out the strange object sticking out of one of the trees.

He stopped dead. "Goomblaine, look up there!" He pointed.

Goomblaine looked up. "Huh?"

There was a hammer resting on one of the tree branches… the same standard-issue hammer that belonged to every Hammer Bro Mario had ever seen.

"That must be Hanner's!" he exclaimed. "Come on, let's get it down!"

Goomblaine scoffed. "_Why? _We don't need to deal with her anymore."

Mario looked at him impatiently. "Goomblaine, I'm sure you don't have much experience with this, but generally when you help someone out, they're inclined to help you in return. Maybe Hanner will do something useful for us. Besides, it's the right thing to do to give it back to her."

"Doing the right thing never gets you anywhere," Goomblaine muttered. Mario ignored him and walked under the tree where Hanner's hammer was resting. Cracking his knuckles, he reached for his own hammer and whacked the tree with all his might.

He did not get the result he expected.

"BRAAAAAAAWCK!" came a raucous cry from within the leaves of the tree. Then the branches all began to shake and tremble as something was moving inside of it.

Mario grew pale. "That… sounded like a bird, didn't it?"

"You moron," Goomblaine grumbled.

Suddenly, a brown form came bursting out of the tree, flapping along on a pair of overly large wings. It was quickly joined by one, two, three more of its kind, and within moments they were all swooping around Mario and Goomblaine, screaming at them.

"WHAAAAAAAT are you doing in this forest?!" one of them screeched. "We own this place, punks!"

"You'll be SOOOOOOORRY!" another one cawed.

Well, it didn't take a genius to know these were the birds that Sledge had warned them about. Looking at them as best he could in the dim light, Mario could see they were little more than round heads with stubby legs and oversized wings. They would have looked harmless, even comical, if it weren't for their curved, sharp beaks and the murderous glint in their eyes.

"We just wanted that hammer up there!" Mario insisted, though he got the feeling negotiating would be useless.

"It's OOOOOOOOOUR hammer now!" one of the circling birds spat at him. "Everything in this forest is ours – including YOOOOOOOU!!"

And without any further warning, the four birds swooped into battle.

"Yikes!" Mario cried, leaping backward. "Uh, Tattle time, Goomblaine?"

Goomblaine grudgingly pulled out his phone and punched in a few buttons. "All right. These things're called Pudgy Budgies. They look cute, but they're nasty. They travel in groups and prey on guys who get lost in the woods, and they're drawn to despair."

"'Drawn to despair'? What does that mean?"

"How should I know?! I'm just readin' this thing!"

"SHUT UUUUUUUUP ALREADY!!" one of the Pudgy Budgies shrieked at them.

Mario braced himself and entered the fight. His hammer was useless on flying enemies, meaning he had to Jump whenever he got the chance. Using the strategy that had won them the fight against the Darkstriders, he and Goomblaine picked on one bird at a time, but that didn't stop the other three from pecking and scratching at them whenever they tried to attack.

"You guys are just a bunch of – ACK!" Goomblaine yelped as a Pudgy Budgie gripped him in its sharp talons and hurled him against a tree.

"What are you all doing in this forest?" Mario shouted as he attempted to Guard against another Budgie's pecking at his head. "Why have you been attacking everyone?"

"We're protecting what's OOOOOOOOURS!" one of them snapped in reply. "Those fools have been coming after our treasure! We won't let them HAAAAAAAAAVE it!"

Mario suddenly found himself surrounded by a mass of flapping wings and flying feathers. All four Pudgy Budgies were ganging up on him at once. He cried out and waved his arms around, trying to scatter them, but it was no use. Their forms were even blotting out the sky.

"Yeah, that's their special move, the Gang Attack," came Goomblaine's nonchalant voice from several feet away.

"DO SOMETHING, GOOMBLAINE!!"

"Whatever, Fat Man!" the Goomba scoffed, throwing himself at the group of birds and causing them to disperse.

"You are STROOOOOOONGER than the rest!" sneered a Budgie. "But we'll still never let you leave!"

The fight wore on like that, with Mario and Goomblaine fighting off a constant barrage of claws and wings as they Jumped and Headbonked their attackers. Mario was getting very weak, but couldn't help but notice that as he did, the Budgies' aim seemed to be worsening. Whenever one attempted to dive-bomb him, it would often miss.

With a smirk, he realized the Close Call Badge was working.

"That's it! I'm sick of you!" Goomblaine shouted, throwing all his energy behind one very lethal Headbonk. It seemed to do the trick, as the unfortunate Pudgy Budgie let out one more strangled squawk before plummeting from the sky, landing with a thud. The other Budgies shrieked in fury, and Mario and Goomblaine took advantage of their distraction and, one by one, finished them off as well.

"Graaaaaawk… this isn't over!" one of them groaned weakly.

"Yeah, yeah, they all say that," Goomblaine sneered.

"You'll never make it through this whole forest alive!" a second one growled at them. "If you're smart, you'll turn back NOOOOOOOW!"

And with that, they all picked themselves up and staggered off into the bushes.

Mario and Goomblaine stood panting heavily in silence for a moment. Finally, Mario turned to Goomblaine.

"'_Fat Man_'?!"

"I ain't calling you Mario! That name's ridiculous."

Shaking his head, Mario pulled out one of the Mushrooms he had bought and split it with Goomblaine. Within seconds they were re-energized, and then Mario turned his attention back to the matter at hand.

"All that fuss over a hammer," he sighed, walking back up to the tree. "This better be hers."

He gave the tree one more good whack, and this time it did the job.

"Uh oh – look out, Goomblaine."

"What?"

Goomblaine was promptly hit on the head by the hammer that had just fallen out of the tree.

"SON OF A – " He started swearing loudly for quite a while before finally calming down slightly.

"Are you quite done?" Mario asked irritably, picking up the hammer. "Now let's give it back to her."

"Uh, just one problem. We don't know where this Hanner is."

Mario froze, wincing. Goomblaine was right. It was so hard to get used to thinking of there being two versions of everyone except themselves.

"Do you think it would make a difference if I gave this one to the Dayside Hanner?"

"Man, this is your idea. I don't care _what _you do."

––

**_Fleet Forest Outskirts_**

**_7:00 am_**

Hanner had fallen back against the gate again and was starting to doze off. She wondered where Mario and that Goomba kid were now. She really felt bad about having to turn them away, but she had to do her job. She was already in trouble for losing her hammer, and…

"HANNER! HEY, HANNER!" came a familiar voice right by her ear, followed by a violent pounding against the gate. Hanner cried out, so shocked that she jerked away from the gate and fell forward to the ground in the process.

"What the – " she twisted around to see Mario standing on the other side of the gate, clutching her hammer and laughing.

"I'm sorry," he quickly snickered. "I just couldn't resist. Here, I got this for you." He held the hammer out.

Hanner was dumbfounded. "Wha – how the heck did you guys get over there?! I've been standing here this whole time! Oh man, I'm gonna get in trouble for – hey! My hammer!!"

"I bet you were the top of your class," Goomblaine grumbled at her.

Hanner leapt to her feet, slipped through the gate after them and grabbed her hammer. "Oh, _thank _you, Mario!" she cried, hugging it tightly to herself. "I was so upset when I lost it! Where'd you find it?"

"Uh… in the trees," said Mario, which really was true.

"Really? How'd it get up there? Man, that's weird… well, anyway, I gotta repay you somehow, Mario. I'd be dead meat without this."

"Well, we'll hold you to that. In the meantime, we gotta go."

"Hey, wait a minute!" said Hanner before he and Goomblaine could be off. "I'm still not supposed to let you go into Fleet Forest, y'know. But, why do you need to get there so bad anyway?"

"You wouldn't believe us if we told you. Trust me."

Hanner put her hands on her hips. "Try me."

Mario glanced at Goomblaine. _Should _they tell her the truth? There wasn't any harm in it, really, although if the Solunians had been any proof, she probably wouldn't even understand what they were trying to tell her.

"Well," Mario began, "Maybe you don't know this, Hanner, but up until yesterday, time didn't used to depend on location like this. It used to pass no matter where you were, even if you stayed in one place. And not only that, there was a second half to the day. It's called night."

Hanner looked dumbly at him. "Of course I know that, you weirdo."

"Goomblaine and I – wait. What? You know that?"

"Why _wouldn't _I know that?" Hanner giggled. "Oh boy, what a relief! I was starting to think I was the only one who noticed something weird was going on with the sun! It hasn't moved all day! Mario, do you know why that's happening?"

Mario and Goomblaine gawked at each other.

"So you remember the night?" Goomblaine asked.

"Uh huh. Wait, are you telling me it's never going to be night again?"

"Well – oh boy, where to start…"

Finally, Mario resigned to telling her the whole story: their visit to the Temple of the Sun, the murder of the Guardians of Day, and what happened as a result. Hanner listened to them, and her eyes grew wider and wider.

"You really mean it? They all died?" she gasped. "That's terrible! I mean – I didn't think that was possible! So now there are _two _Chronosides?"

"Yeah. You know, maybe that's what happened to your hammer. Somehow you ended up in different halves when the split happened."

"But that can't be. Shouldn't this hammer belong to the _other _me, then?"

"Oh, well…" Mario paused. "Actually, we didn't see the other you."

Hanner looked perplexed. "_Is _there another me?"

"Of course there is," Mario said automatically, but the instant he did, he didn't feel so sure. They hadn't seen any other Hanner… and this Hanner, the one they were looking at…

It was hard to describe… but she felt different, somehow. Now that he was used to seeing multiple versions of people, Mario was sort of able to tell that all the halves he was seeing weren't who those people truly were. Thinking back to Rodolfo, he realized that being around his halves had somehow felt different from being around his whole self.

He didn't get that feeling with Hanner. She felt more like Goomblaine, and like him.

"Well, anyway, that's why we have to go," he quickly said, snapping out of his thoughts and looking embarrassed. "We think there might be a Sun Soul in the forest."

"Wow," Hanner marveled, taking it all in. "And here I wasn't even gonna let you go…"

Suddenly she straightened up. "Mario! You gotta let me come with you! I wanna help you!"

Mario was stunned. "What?"

"Well, you got my hammer back for me, didn't you? And besides, helping you guys out has gotta be way more exciting than standing at this stupid gate!"

"Uh, Hanner… you shouldn't take this lightly. This is a _really _important mission we're on."

"I know!" Hanner insisted. "Trust me, I'll be good! I'll help you however I can! I wanna get those Guardians of Day back too, so the world can go back to normal! Please, Mario?"

Goomblaine looked doubtfully at Mario. "Are you _really _gonna let her?"

Mario looked back and forth between the Goomba and Koopa standing on either side of him, and unsurprisingly, felt a very strong wave of déjà vu.

"Goomblaine, of course I'm gonna let her," he quickly decided. "We're going to need all the help we can get." Secretly, though, he was also grateful that he would now have someone other than the spiteful Goomba to talk to.

Hanner looked thrilled. "Oh, _really_, Mario?" she cried, throwing her arms around him. "Thank you! Thank you so much! You won't regret it, I swear!"

"I'm regretting it already," Goomblaine muttered.

**_Hanner Joined Mario's Party!_**

_Hanner is a young, friendly "Hammer Sis" who is very dedicated to her job and fiercely loyal to her friends. She's a bit of a jokester with a good sense of humor. She can throw out her hammer to hit switches that are too far away for Mario to reach, or to get the first strike on enemies. In battle, she can use her Hammer Throw to attack one enemy, or use Multi-Throw to throw many hammers and attack all enemies at once._

"Okay, then! Let's go!" Hanner said enthusiastically.

With nothing else holding them back, the trio immediately set off down the Fleet Forest path.

**_––_**

**_Fleet Forest_**

**_7:14 pm_**

They didn't stay in Dayside for long. Hanner had a plethora of questions to ask Mario now that she knew about their mission, and one of the very first things she asked was if she could see the magic hourglass he had mentioned. Not seeing the harm, he had obligingly pulled it out and warped the three of them to Nightside.

"That is so _cool!_" she cheered once they had arrived, clapping and jumping up and down. "Look! Look! It's nighttime out! That is just so awesome!!"

"It is kind of cool, but it's a very _bad _thing," Mario reminded her. "We only want one Chronoside here."

"Yeah, I know," she sighed.

Unfortunately, they were still attacked by random Pudgy Budgies every so often, but never so badly as the first time. Besides, now they had Hanner to help them. She was a perfect aim with her Hammer Throw, often downing weaker Budgies with a single blow.

"These things really aren't so bad when you're in a group," she noted after a while. "I don't know why everybody was making such a fuss over them."

"Hey, Hanner," Mario recalled, "Goomblaine was telling me that Pudgy Budgies are 'drawn to despair'. You don't know what that means, do you?"

Hanner looked at him and shook her head. "Sorry, Mario. I don't really know anything about these guys."

"It's fine. But do you know, are we going to run into any other enemies in here?"

"Gee, I don't think so. Up until recently, Fleet Forest was always a really nice and peaceful place. I think we'll – "

Hanner didn't get to finish before the ground beneath them suddenly began to shake and tremble.

The Hammer Sis looked alarmed. "What's going on?"

"You _jinxed _it, that's what," Goomblaine snapped at her.

"Wait a minute – I've felt this before," said Mario, filling with dread.

The trembling reached a violent peak, and all of a sudden, three monstrous forms came bursting out of the ground, throwing up a shower of dirt and towering over the three travelers.

"Piranha Plants?!" Hanner gawked. But Mario knew better. Unlike regular Piranhas, these three were colored yellow, and their spots were dark red. They drooled a viscous, vile-looking fluid as they peered down and grinned at Mario and the others.

"_Putrid _Piranhas!" Mario growled.

"HYUCK YUCK YUCK… YOU ARE MARIO, YES?" said the first one in a very loud voice.

"If I say no, will you leave me alone?" the plumber sighed.

"WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BEAT YOU NOW!" said the second one. "PREPARE TO GET BEATEN, MARIO!"

"But – this makes no sense at all!" Hanner cried as the three of them faced their newest challengers. "There are no Piranhas living anywhere _near _Fleet Forest! Much less Putrid Piranhas!"

"Hanner, don't question it and just fight!" Mario shouted at her.

Goomblaine quickly Tattled on them, but didn't reveal anything Mario didn't already know. Not only was their bite poisonous, but they could spew toxic goo at their enemies.

"And they're plants, so I'm pretty sure they're weak against fire!" he added.

"Is that so?" Mario said with a grin. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the Fire Flower he had bought from the Fleetmont Shop and brandished it in front of him. It immediately began spitting out fireballs, singing all three Putrid Piranhas and causing them to cry in pain.

"I'll take care of these guys!" Hanner announced, stepping forward. Mario watched as she suddenly began hurling an entire barrage of hammers at the Piranhas, striking all of them at once.

"Nice! Multi-Throw!" Mario said approvingly.

Goomblaine didn't look so happy. "You mean we went through all that trouble to get your _one _hammer and you had all of _those?!_" he bellowed at the Hammer Sis. "And where the heck do you _keep _all of 'em, anyway?!"

"Goomblaine, one thing you _never _ask a Hammer Bro is where they keep all their hammers," Mario replied.

"Yeah, Goomblaine! It's called _hammer_space for a reason!" Hanner laughed.

"HEY! YOU GUYS! STOP TALKING WHILE WE FIGHT YOU!" shouted the center Piranha.

All three of them dived into the ground and resurfaced directly in front of Mario and the others, picking them off individually. Mario swung his hammer defensively at the Piranha attacking him, keeping it successfully at bay, and he saw Goomblaine jumping and dodging out of the second one's reach. Hanner wasn't so lucky.

"AAAARGH!!" she cried in pain as the Piranha bit down on her arm and started thrashing violently around. She tried to pull herself free, but it was no use.

"Hey! Let go of her!" Mario shouted, trying to rush over to her, when suddenly the Piranha in front of him spat a glob of disgusting purple sludge right in his face.

"Yuck," he groaned, quickly wiping it off before it could take its poisonous effect. "Hang on, Hanner – "

"HIYA!!" came a shout, and Mario looked up in time to see Goomblaine deliver a Headbonk directly to the head of the Piranha biting down on Hanner. It winced and released its hold, and Hanner quickly finished it off with a Hammer Throw. Mario took care of the second one with a Power Smash from his own hammer, and the third was already lying stunned on the ground. Goomblaine had beaten it already.

"OW… YOU GUYS ARE MEAN GUYS!" complained the center one, trying to lift its head back up.

"WE'LL BE BACK! WE'LL BEAT YOU GUYS NEXT TIME!" shouted the second one.

"Why does _everybody always _say that?!" Goomblaine growled as the Piranhas all ducked back underground and disappeared. Mario was about to make a similar remark when he noticed Hanner was panting heavily and groaning. She clutched at her arm where the Piranha had bitten it, and her face was starting to turn green.

"Hanner! You're poisoned!" Mario cried in alarm, running up to her. His mind began to race until he remembered another handy item he just so happened to have.

"Guess we needed this after all," he remarked, taking out the Tasty Tonic and giving it to her. "Here, drink this."

Hanner nodded weakly, grabbing the Tonic and downing it in a single gulp. After a moment, the color returned to her face and she sighed in relief, letting go of her arm.

"Thanks, Mario," she said. Suddenly, she started giggling and twirled her hammer around. "Ha ha! I knew it! Already this is more exciting than anything I've done in a long time!"

"Hey, if you two losers would shut up for a sec, look over here," came Goomblaine's voice.

Mario turned to see what he was gesturing at. He immediately recognized it as a Badge lying on the forest floor, and he quickly walked up to it.

"Woah – it's a Power Bounce!" he marveled, snatching it up instantly. "This is going to come in handy, _big _time! But where'd it come from?"

Goomblaine just shrugged. "Those Piranha guys dropped it when they left."

"Really?" Mario was surprised. "I know some enemies leave Badges behind, but they're never as rare as this one."

"Look, I saw what I saw," Goomblaine said impatiently. "Now can we just get going already? This is takin' way too long."

Hanner looked at Mario in surprise. Mario just shook his head, telling her it was best not to say anything. Obediently, Hanner silently walked off after Goomblaine, and Mario took up the rear.

As the sky continued to slowly darken, Mario started absentmindedly thinking about his new partner.

_She sure is nice_, he thought. _And she's strong. She'll be good to have around._

He smiled a little.

"What do you guys think of her?" he said.

_I like her! _came an immediate reply. _She's cool, and she's awesome at fighting. Oh, and she's pretty too! Think she'd like me?_

_Oh, that_ would _be the first thing you think about, _sighed a second voice.

_Oh sorry, mister already-has-a-girlfriend, _the first voice scoffed.

"Guys, stop fighting," Mario sighed. The two boys were similar in age and appearance, and it took someone as well acquainted with them as Mario to know how different they actually were.

_Sorry Mario, _said the second voice. _But, I think she'll be great for you. I sure know a loyal and brave person when I see one._

_Yeah, and she looks good in that helmet. D'you think I should be a Hammer Bro, Mario?_

"Okay, that's enough," Mario muttered, plowing through the forest.

––

Deeper in the forest, the three Putrid Piranhas popped out of the ground and regrouped, looking beaten and humiliated.

"So? Did you beat him?" came an impatient voice from in front of them.

"HYUCK YUCK YUCK… WE'RE SORRY, MAMA," groaned the first one. "HE WAS TOO STRONG FOR US."

"MARIO IS TOUGH GUY. HIS FRIENDS ARE TOUGH GUYS," agreed the second one.

The shadowy figure in front of them sighed and shook its head. "You can't do a simple thing like take down a ridiculous plumber and his friends? I expected better from you. And you even lost that Badge you were supposed to be guarding…"

"WE'LL DO BETTER NEXT TIME, MAMA," promised the first one.

"You'd better hope you get a next time," the figure said sternly. "Now go. It's too late to stop him here."

The Putrid Piranhas guiltily bowed their heads and retreated back in the ground, leaving the shadowy figure by itself.

Cloaked in the perpetual darkness of the trees, it took off through the forest as silently and stealthily as though it were a shadow itself. After several minutes, it heard the sound of voices coming from the forest path. Skillfully leaping up a tree, it parked itself on a branch and gazed down.

Mario, Goomblaine and Hanner were walking down the path. The shadow watched them closely, unseen by any of them.

"So, you won, Mario," it said, growing a satisfied smirk. "Just as I thought you would. I certainly hope I can meet you in person soon enough."

**––––**

**A/N: **Just a heads up, but I probably won't be able to update for a while after this, seeing how ridiculously bogged down with schoolwork I am right now. Once Thanksgiving break rolls around, you'll get more, I PROMISE!

Oh, and you win a free Internet if you know where the phrase "thinking fourth-dimensionally" comes from. ;)


	7. Chapter 1, Part III

**A/N: **FINALLY, I get to update this! Sorry it's been a while. School was utter hell for me this term, and the prospect of eventually getting to write some more has been basically the only thing keeping me sane. My only advice to you guys is, NEVER EVER EVER take Molecular Biology in college.

**_––––_**

**_Fleetmont_**

**_6:00 am_**

Sergeant Sledge was sitting in his office in the center of town, filling out some more monotonous paperwork. Unfortunately, a lot of it happened to be concerning the various missing persons reports that had been coming in, which was doing little to improve his mood.

After a while, reading through all those names of people who would probably never be seen again became too much for him to handle. He sighed miserably, covering his face in his hands.

"Why on earth did I agree to let those two go?" he groaned, thinking back to Mario and Goomblaine. "They'll be goners, just like the rest of them."

"Hey, Sarge!" came an alarmed voice. Sledge looked up to see two Hammer Bros – one with a green shell, the other blue – open the office door and come staggering inside, looking frantic.

"What's the matter, boys?" he asked worriedly.

"Uh, okay, Sarge," said the blue-shelled one. "Y'know those two guys who were asking to go into the forest, and then you let them go?"

"Don't tell me… those birds got to them?" Sledge moaned, shaking his head. "I knew this was a bad idea! Oh, what do I do now?! What if their families and friends come looking for them? What am I supposed to say? They'll have my head on a platter for this – "

"Geez, Sarge, get a hold of yourself!" said the green-shelled one. "We don't know if those birds got them. We came in here because of Hanner."

"What about her?"

"You had her stationed outside the forest, remember?"

Sledge looked confused. He thought for a long moment before he seemed to remember.

"Oh, yes, that's right," he sighed. "That was just about the only job I could trust her with anymore. I mean, honestly, what self-respecting Hammer Bro loses their own hammer?"

The fact was, when Sledge had given Mario and Goomblaine permission to enter Fleet Forest, he had entirely forgotten that Hanner was stationed there. He had told her to guard the entrance because, frankly, he hadn't thought anyone would be stupid enough to want to go in anyway.

Hanner was, without a doubt, the least competent member of the Hammer Force. She always meant well, but she was constantly flaking out at her job, like the one time when the Fleetmont Shop had somehow been robbed during her guard shift. He'd tried to be lenient with her, but most recently, when she had sheepishly approached him and admitted that she'd_ somehow _lost her hammer, well, that was the last straw.

She'd begged him not to fire her, so he'd had only one other option: give her a job where she couldn't possibly mess up.

"No one's going to pass by there. And at least this way she'll think she's being useful," he'd assured himself.

"Yeah, well, anyway, Sarge," piped up the blue-shelled Hammer Bro, snapping him out of his thoughts, "we figured you forgot about her, since you didn't mention her at all when you were talking to those guys. So we decided we'd better go talk to her ourselves so she'd know they were allowed in."

"And?"

"And… uh… she wasn't there."

Sledge blinked. "What?!"

"We looked all over the place for her!" the green-shelled one insisted. "But there was nobody at the gate, or anywhere else we saw! She didn't come back here, did she?"

"I haven't seen her," Sledge refuted their hopes. "But where could she have gone off to?"

"Well…" the blue-shelled one said reluctantly. "We were talking about that, and we think maybe… probably… she went off with those two."

"She _what?!_"

"She was always talking about wanting to go into the forest and lay a beatdown on those birds, remember?" said the green-shelled one. "She probably convinced those two to let her go with them."

Sledge groaned loudly, leaning hopelessly back in his chair.

"That girl is going to be the _endgame _of me," he lamented. "I thought at the very least, she was smart enough to know better than that."

"Should we go looking for her, Sarge?" asked the green-shelled Bro.

"Of course not. If Hanner's gone in there, there's nothing we can do," sighed Sledge, gazing miserably out the window. "Except hope that she somehow makes it out of there alive."

**_––_**

**_Fleet Forest_**

**_7:37 am_**

Eventually, traveling through the Nightside forest ceased to be an option for Mario and his friends. It was nearly impossible to see, and there were hazards all around them that they needed to keep their eyes on. Indeed, the instant Mario warped the three of them back to Dayside, they saw they had almost fallen into an impassable ravine.

"Well, that's great," he sighed. "How do we cross this thing?"

"Oh, don't worry about that," Hanner assured him. "All members of the Hammer Force have clearance to get past here. See that switch over there?"

"Uh, yeah…" said Mario, squinting to look at the blue "!" Block on the other side of the ravine.

"Well, watch this," Hanner said with a smile. She drew her arm as far back as it would go before hurling her hammer clear across the ravine, hitting the block perfectly.

Suddenly, a papery piece of the background ripped away, revealing a wooden bridge behind it.

Mario blinked. "Wow. Impressive."

"No big deal," Hanner said brightly, leading the others across the bridge.

They hadn't walked much farther before Mario ventured to speak up again. The prospect of the split world was still weighing heavily down on his mind, and there were plenty of things still confusing him. One thing, though, he thought was particularly important.

"You know what I wonder?"

Both his partners looked at him.

"Those Budgies… the ones we fought… they were in Nightside, right? They said they were protecting the Sun Soul. But we first heard about it in Dayside, didn't we?"

Goomblaine raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, so?"

"So, it can't be in both places at once, can it? That wouldn't make any sense."

"Huh… you got a point there, Mario," Hanner agreed, scratching her head. "You probably can't split a thing like that in half."

After thinking for a moment, her eyes lit up. "Ooh! Ooh! I bet I know!"

"Congratulations," Goomblaine grumbled.

"Mario, you said there's two versions of _everybody _now, right? Wouldn't that include those Budgies?"

"Uh… I suppose…"

"Well, maybe there is no Sun Soul in Nightside after all. But those Budgies who live there still _think _there is."

Mario wondered where exactly she was going with this. "Why would they think something like that?"

"Because, silly!" Hanner laughed as though it were obvious. "There is a Sun Soul in Dayside, and the Budgies here are guarding it – so their other halves know about it too! I mean, it only makes sense!"

Mario and Goomblaine both looked dumbly at her.

"Oh, come on, guys," Hanner sighed, rolling her eyes. "What I mean is, if one half of somebody learns about something, then I bet their other half automatically knows about it too. I mean, they're the same person, after all."

Mario thought about that. "I suppose that could be," he decided. "But I think it'll be a while before we figure out everything about _halves_ of people."

"Yeah, that's true. I guess we – "

Hanner was quickly cut off by the telltale sound of wings flapping overhead.

"Not them again," Mario groaned. All three of them looked up at the sky and saw a flock of Pudgy Budgies overhead, rapidly approaching them.

"Just perfect," Goomblaine sighed.

"We're getting into the deepest part of the forest now," Hanner reminded the other two. "They must be getting desperate to stop us."

All at once, the Budgie at the front of the flock let out a furious squawk and dived straight out of the sky. Mario reacted quickly and swung his hammer at it, striking it before it could attack them.

"We WAAAAAARNED you!" it shrieked in fury, struggling to reorient itself. "You told you all to leave, and you ignored us! You'll PAAAAAAAAY for this!"

"Don't be stupid!" Mario shouted at it. "We beat you guys before, and we'll do it again!"

Hanner, in the meantime, was staring up at something else in the sky, looking very, very frightened.

"Uh… Mario?" she said weakly, pointing.

A shadow suddenly plunged over the trio as something massive flapped by overhead, blotting out the sun. Mario and Goomblaine instantly looked up and saw exactly what Hanner was staring at.

Flying directly towards them was an enormous monster of a Pudgy Budgie, at least ten times the size of any of the others. Rather than simply being a head with wings, this Budgie appeared to be a full-fledged bird, with a long, craning neck and a muscled body. The other Budgies were flapping loyally around it as it approached them and let out a deafening war cry.

"Oh… my…"

"RUN FOR IT!!" Goomblaine screamed.

All three of them took off racing through the forest and screaming at the top of their lungs. The smaller Budgies quickly caught up to them and were continuously scratching and pecking at them as they ran, and it was all they could do to swipe them frantically off. They didn't even need to turn around to know that the Budgie leader was hot on their trail; they could hear its massive wingbeats not far behind them.

"WHAT DO WE DO?!?" Mario shouted, shielding his head with his hands.

"We have to hide somewhere!!" Hanner shouted back, swinging her hammer around in a desperate attempt to ward the Budgies off.

"Well wherever that is, don't _shout _it!" Goomblaine yelled in exasperation.

After leaping over several logs and crashing through one bush after another, the group was running out of energy, but their predators were showing no signs of relenting.

"ARGH!" Goomblaine suddenly cried out as he tripped over himself, falling forward several feet before crashing to the ground. A gang of Budgies was instantly upon him, and though he shouted in protest, he had no way to defend himself.

"Oh no – " Mario skidded to a stop and turned around, running directly toward Goomblaine. He swung his hammer at the attacking Budgies, successfully scattering them, and then grabbed the Goomba and took off after Hanner once again.

"What are you doing?!" Goomblaine demanded.

"Saving you! What's it look like?" Mario shot back.

Goomblaine looked at him in a mixture of wariness and annoyance, but said nothing.

"Guys! Guys! Hurry! Over here!" came Hanner's voice from far ahead. "I found something!"

Goomblaine immediately wrested himself free of Mario's grip and ran after Hanner himself, leaving the plumber to follow him. Eventually they caught sight of Hanner, who was jumping up and down while frantically pointing at a large tree.

"In here! Quick!" she cried. As he ran closer, Mario realized that the tree had some kind of doorway in it. Was it hollow inside?

"Come _on! _Hurry up or you'll get us killed!" Goomblaine shouted over his shoulder at Mario. Without missing a beat, he dashed inside the doorway and vanished, and Hanner quickly followed after him. Mario was the last one in.

As soon as all three of them were safely inside, they stood panting in the sudden darkness, not daring to move or make a noise. They listened for the sound of Budgies outside, but everything was silent.

"Do you… think it's safe?" Hanner whispered after a long while.

"I'll go check," Mario muttered.

He stepped forward and very cautiously peered out of the tree.

"Uh… Hanner…" he said slowly, "is there something special about this tree?"

"Huh? I don't know, why?"

"Because I think it just warped us."

Stunned, Goomblaine and Hanner both scrambled forward and looked out of the tree along with Mario. Sure enough, they now found themselves in a completely different and unfamiliar section of Fleet Forest. On the bright side, there were no Pudgy Budgies to be seen… but on the other hand, they were now completely lost.

"Wow," Hanner remarked. "I guess we just walked into a Teleporting Tree. I didn't think those things were real."

Goomblaine stared incredulously while Mario smacked himself in the forehead.

"You mean you _knew _about this and you didn't _tell _us?!" he shouted at her.

"Hey! I said, I didn't think they were real!" Hanner said defensively. "I've just heard stories about these things, okay? People used to say that if you go too far into the forest, you'll be lost for all eternity, wandering between the Teleporting Trees."

Mario groaned and slid into a sitting position. "Just terrific. _Now_ how will we ever find that Sun Soul?"

Hanner was suddenly stroking her chin thoughtfully, not looking overly concerned at their situation. "Or… wait… _was _it that you were lost for all eternity? No, wait, I know! _If _you lacked confidence in yourself and didn't know where you were headed, _then _you were lost for all eternity. But if you had a clear goal in your mind and no fear in your heart, then the Teleporting Trees had the power to take you exactly where you wanted to go."

Mario raised an eyebrow. "Now, are you _sure _about that?" he asked.

Hanner nodded vigorously. "Yeah! I'm totally sure that's how it goes. And since we have a clear goal, if we keep walking through the Teleporting Trees, they should eventually lead us directly to the Sun Soul! …Right?"

Mario and Goomblaine glanced at each other with equally hopeless looks.

"Man, you'd _better _be right about this," Goomblaine growled at her. "I knew takin' you on was a mistake."

Hanner frowned. "Look, let's just look for the next tree like this one, okay? We'll make it through here fine, I'm sure of it."

––

From there, the trio's journey through the forest very quickly went downhill. Just as Hanner had said, there were indeed more Teleporting Trees to be found, but they were few and far between. Except in occasional cases where two of them were close to each other – such as when they walked into a tree at the bottom of an insurmountable rocky ledge and came out at the top – there seemed to be an endless trek in between each one.

And no matter how many they walked through, they didn't get any less lost.

"Hanner… I really don't think this is working," Mario sighed after a long time. "We've been traveling through here for hours – well, you know what I mean – and I'm pretty sure we haven't gotten anywhere near the Sun Soul."

"Yeah, and we're running out of stuff, too," Goomblaine testily reminded the Hammer Sis. "We're almost outta Mushrooms, thanks to your little detour."

Hanner stopped walking and looked imploringly at them. "Guys, come on!" she begged. "I know I'm right about this, I just _know _it. All the stories say, you just need a clear idea of what you want."

Suddenly, she noticed something up ahead.

"Look!" she alerted, pointing at it. "There's another Teleporting Tree right now! This one'll take us there! I'm sure it will!"

Mario shook his head. "Hanner, please. Just give it a rest. I really think we'll be better off trying to reorient ourselves and getting through this forest the normal way."

Hanner looked deeply upset. "You guys don't believe me?" she asked. "Look, let's just go through this one more, okay? If we don't find the Sun Soul then, well, then I guess I'm wrong. But I just know this is the right one!"

Hanner looked utterly insistent, and Mario sighed heavily when he realized she wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Okay, okay," he agreed. "Come on, Goomblaine, let's go."

Hanner confidently led the other two up to the doorway of the tree. When they got there, they all paused briefly. The Hammer Sis took a deep breath.

"Here goes nothing."

She walked into the tree, and the other two followed after her. After finding themselves in the darkness of the tree's interior, they quickly turned around and walked out the same way they had come.

All three of them gasped. They were…

…in the middle of nowhere.

"What? No!" Hanner cried, almost sounding pleading. She dashed ahead of Mario and Goomblaine and looked around desperately, but there was no Sun Soul to be seen anywhere.

"No…" she moaned, finally coming to a stop and gazing dejectedly at the ground.

"I'm sorry, Hanner," Mario sighed, walking up to her and trying to forget that they were now more lost than ever.

But she just frowned at him.

"No you're not," she accused. "You never even believed me."

"I believe you _thought _you were right."

"Why can't you guys just trust me?!" she shouted, and Mario was stunned by her sudden burst of anger. "I know I'm not the smartest girl in the world, but I can at least do _some _things right! Sarge at least understood that. I know he trusted me."

"Yeah, sure. That's why he had you guarding the entrance to a forest nobody ever goes into," Goomblaine scoffed.

Mario and Hanner both looked at him in complete shock and horror. He didn't seem to notice, though. On the contrary, the moment he heard his own words, his eyes lit up in triumph.

"Hey, that _is _it, isn't it?" he realized. "That's why you were guarding the forest! That's why you thought nobody was allowed in, even when your boss said it was okay for us to go!"

Suddenly, Goomblaine was doubling over laughing. "Oh, that's _rich! _He had you on some dumb fool's errand this whole time! And you were so stupid, you actually _fell _for it!"

Mario was filling with rage. "Goomblaine, shut _up!_"

Hanner looked utterly devastated. "That's not true!" she protested. "Sarge would never do that to me!"

"Yeah? What else is a Hammer Bro without a hammer good for?" Goomblaine jeered at her.

"That _wasn't _her fault, Goomblaine, and you _know _it!" Mario snapped.

Hanner didn't hear either of them. A roaring in her ears was drowning out every other noise. She clutched her head and shook it violently, begging for it not to be true.

But hearing it from Goomblaine, she realized it was. Every word of it.

Mario didn't trust her. Goomblaine didn't trust her. Not even her own boss trusted her.

She wasn't good for anything.

"This is all my fault!" she sobbed. "I can't believe I've been so _stupid!!_"

And she raced blindly into the Teleporting Tree.

"Hanner – Hanner, wait!" Mario cried, running up to it and peering inside. But she was already gone.

After staring hopelessly into the empty tree for a moment, he remembered whose fault this was and rounded on Goomblaine.

"_Now _are you happy?!" he demanded. "How could you possibly be so insensitive? Now she's lost all by herself, and we have no idea how to find her!"

"Oh, come on. We're better off without her anyway," the Goomba replied, not looking the least bit sorry.

Mario had to resist the urge to bust out his hammer. "Goomblaine, don't you _get _it?! She's got no supplies, no food, and there are Pudgy Budgies out there! Anything could happen to her! No matter what trouble she's caused, she's _our _responsibility, and we _are _finding her!!"

––

Hanner ran through the forest, squeezing her eyes shut and crying all the while. She didn't know where she was going anymore, and she didn't care. She couldn't bring herself to stop.

She realized everything now. What a miserable excuse for a Hammer Sis she was. How she'd never been good at her job, no matter what she tried. And just now, how she'd gotten the three of them hopelessly lost because she thought she believed in a dumb superstition.

Now they'd never find the Sun Soul, and the world would never be saved, and it was all her fault.

Finally she was too exhausted to run any further. She slowed to a stop and finally collapsed to her knees, crying in shame, in helplessness, in despair.

Despair. She was in utter despair.

And so when the sky suddenly grew dark around her yet again, and the foreboding sound of wingbeats, louder than ever before, filled the air around her, she had neither the will nor the strength to fight back.

––

"This is hopeless," Mario muttered, pushing and shoving his way through the bushes. "She could be absolutely anywhere by now. We'll be lucky if we ever see her again."

"Trust me, I did us a favor," Goomblaine said stiffly.

"You think breaking her heart did us a favor? We needed her, Goomblaine! If we have to fight those Budgies again, we can't win without her!"

"Speaking of which," Goomblaine sighed, looking up at the sky as he was alerted by a familiar sound.

"_No_," Mario groaned, bracing himself and gripping his hammer. "We can't fight those guys anymore. We're not strong enough."

But as the flock of Pudgy Budgies flew by overhead, Mario was stunned to see that they were completely ignoring him and Goomblaine. They seemed to have their attention fixed forward, not even noticing their prey below.

And then came a _whoosh _of beating wings, and the giant Budgie appeared behind the rest of them, letting out a caw.

And clutched in its talons was Hanner.

"_Marioooooo!!_" she screamed down at him. "_Help me!! Help me, please!!_"

Mario's eyes bulged. "Hanner!!" he cried, racing off after the flock without a second thought. With a stunned look on his face, Goomblaine followed after him.

"Hanner! Wait!!" Mario shouted desperately as he ran, but it was no use. The Budgies were flying far too quickly for him to keep up. Though he scrambled through the foliage as fast as he could, it wasn't long before the entire flock vanished into the distance. Along with them, Hanner's screams faded into silence.

"We have to save her somehow!!" Mario shouted at Goomblaine, desperately trying to think of a solution.

"Well, I'm open to any ideas!"

Mario groaned loudly, leaning against the nearest tree and pounding violently against it. He had to think of something now, he had to, he _had _to –

And then he opened his eyes and realized just what kind of tree he was pounding on.

Goomblaine looked strangely at him. "You don't really think that's gonna _work_, do you?"

"It's our only chance," Mario replied, walking over to the doorway of the Teleporting Tree and standing directly in front of it.

_Maybe Hanner was right about this after all…_

_I need a clear idea of what I want… a clear idea…_

"We have to save Hanner!"

He charged into the tree.

**––––**

**A/N: **Next update: Boss battle #1.


	8. Chapter 1, Part IV

**_Fleet Forest_**

**_7:59 am_**

Mario stepped through the Teleporting Tree, and Goomblaine quickly followed after him. Both of them warily looked around.

They were at the very outer edge of the forest, and were currently standing in a large clearing. There was nothing surrounding them but grass and flowers, circled by trees on all sides. One particular tree, far taller and thicker than any of the others, rose up in front of them.

Everything was silent.

"Where are we now?" asked Goomblaine.

"More importantly, where's Hanner?" Mario countered.

He quickly got his answer. The dreaded sound of beating wings quickly reached his ears, and he looked up to find the Pudgy Budgie flock flying over them. Leading them was the monstrous Budgie, and it was still gripping Hanner in its claws.

Mario's blood ran cold. She appeared to have fallen unconscious, and she wasn't moving.

At the sight of the two intruders, the Budgies began shrieking in rage. Most of them dropped out of their flight and dived straight at Mario and Goomblaine.

"WAIT!!" bellowed the Budgie leader. Mario jumped, realizing he was hearing it speak for the first time.

Obediently, the other Budgies broke off their assault, flying loyally back to join their master. The giant Budgie flew over to a high branch of the fittingly large tree, perching on top of it and glaring down at Mario and his remaining partner.

Mario stared back up. It looked almost majestic, really, like an eagle or a falcon. Its tawny colored plumage shone in the early morning sun, and its pitch black eyes flashed with a frightening intelligence. It clacked its beak hungrily at them.

"You've been causing too much trouble in my forest," it squawked at them in a thunderous voice. "I've decided to deal with you myself."

Mario tried not to look afraid. "It's not your forest," he accused. "You took over this place. And we want to know why."

Every single Budgie suddenly burst out laughing. Mario winced at the sound.

"We can do whatever we want!" their leader shouted. "It's _you_ who'd better watch your step! We know what you came here for! Just like all the others!"

Suddenly, it shuffled off to the side to reveal something Mario hadn't noticed before: an enormous nest made of branches and twigs.

Then there came a glow from inside the nest, and Mario's eyes grew wide.

Slowly rising up from out of the nest, hovering a few inches above it, was something that at first looked like an egg – but it was far too big for that, at least the size of a large book. It was glowing and shining in an unearthly light as it gave off a vibrant pinkish-orange color, the color of a rising sun. Etched into it, running all around its circumference, were a series of swirling wavelike patterns that glittered a bright silver.

Mario was overcome with the same awe he'd felt inside the Temple of the Sun.

"That… that's it," he realized, unable to take his eyes off the egg-shaped object. "That's the Sun Soul… it has to be!"

"Not bad lookin'," Goomblaine grunted.

"This is _our _treasure!!" the Budgie bellowed at them. "You were foolish enough to come looking for it – now you'll pay for it! Just like she has!"

It lifted up Hanner and started squeezing her even more tightly in its grip, threatening to slice her in half.

Mario flew into a panic, instantly forgetting about the Sun Soul. "NO!! LET GO OF HER!!"

He ran up directly underneath the tree and hurled his hammer with all his might, striking the Budgie directly in the head. It shrieked in shock and anger.

Goomblaine stared at him. "Don't ya need a _Badge _to do that?"

"I've never really understood why that is," Mario said frankly.

The Budgie didn't appear hurt, but was caught enough off guard that it opened its claws and released Hanner. She fell to the forest floor and landed with a thud.

"Hanner!" Mario cried, racing up to her. He crouched down next to her and started violently shaking her. "C'mon, Hanner, wake up, please!"

After a moment, Hanner let out a groan and opened her eyes. Looking like she was in a daze, she struggled into a sitting position and looked warily around.

"Huh… oh, _Mario!_" she gasped the instant she saw him. "I'm so sorry, I never should have run away! I've been such an idiot, please please please forgive me! I'll never – "

"Hanner! _Later!_" Mario alerted her, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her away just as the Budgie leader was diving at both of them.

"You _won't _escape us!" it screamed at them, taking to the air.

Mario and Hanner raced back to where Goomblaine was standing, and all three of them turned to strike battle stances at the giant bird.

This was it – the battle for the first Sun Soul had begun.

Goomblaine whipped out his phone and Tattled on their opponent. "That's the leader of the Pudgy Budgies – it says here its real name is the Budgie Beast," he announced. "It can attack by flapping its wings and trapping us in gusts of air, or grabbing us in its claws. It also leads all those other Budgies, so it'll probably send them out to attack us too. Then we gotta take care of 'em before they all gang up on us."

"Got it!" Mario said in determination. He kicked off the fight by Jumping on the Budgie Beast's head as hard as he could, and Hanner followed up with a well-aimed Hammer Throw. The Budgie quickly retaliated by swiping its razor sharp claws at Mario, slicing him up and damaging him quite a bit.

"You okay, Mario?" Hanner asked in alarm.

"I'm fine… just keep fighting!" he urged, clutching at himself.

Goomblaine had already thrown himself into a Headbonk, bashing the Budgie's head with his own, but he couldn't get away before it grabbed him in its claws. He yelped in pain, and it took another Hammer Throw from Hanner to release him.

He landed on the ground with a grunt and looked up at the Hammer Sis.

"Why are _you _helping me?" he asked suspiciously, remembering their last conversation.

Hanner just shrugged. "We're partners! That's what partners do."

Goomblaine raised an eyebrow, but neither of them had time to do anything else before they were alerted by an angry squawk from the Budgie Beast. It had landed on the ground and was jabbing its beak at Mario, who was doing his best to leap out of the way. Once when it thrust its head out too far, he took the opportunity to deliver a Power Smash right to its head.

"You insolent little WHELPS!!" it bellowed at them, reeling back in pain. "I will teach you! Pudgy Budgies, attack them!"

The other Budgies immediately obeyed. From where they had been circling high in the sky and watching the fight, they all grouped together and dive-bombed the trio, cawing furiously.

"Get behind me, guys!" Hanner shouted. Mario and Goomblaine quickly did as they were told, watching from behind the Hammer Sis as she performed a Multi-Throw on the attacking Budgies, a determined look set into her face.

Each one of the birds was greeted by a painful hammer strike to the face. All of them let out strangled cries and dropped to the ground, removed from the fight.

Mario grinned and flashed Hanner a thumbs-up. "Hey, did I mention?" he said. "You were right about those trees after all! All I said was we needed to find you, and they led us straight here!"

Hanner turned to look at him, looking completely stunned.

"GRAAAAAWK!!" the Budgie Beast bellowed in fury, snapping the group back to attention. "I swear you'll pay for your intrusion! You'll never get your greedy hands on our treasure!"

Before they could react, it began flapping its massive wings and generated a violent blast of wind. Mario, Goomblaine and Hanner screamed as they were sent flying backwards through the air.

"Hang on, you guys!" Hanner yelped. She dug her hammer into the ground and clung onto the handle for dear life, and Mario and Goomblaine each grabbed onto her shell. The Budgie Beast responded by beating its wings even harder, and the wind picked up and painfully slashed through the trio.

"You'd better not let go of that thing!" Goomblaine screamed at Hanner, the force of the wind bringing tears to his eyes.

Mario's mind was racing. He had to think of a plan. Her hammer was the only thing weighing them down, and if they were blown away, they were in for a fatal landing.

Unless…

"Hanner!" he shouted, struggling to be heard over the windy blast. "I need you to let go of that hammer, right now!"

Hanner turned to stare at him. "ARE YOU CRAZY?!"

"JUST TRUST ME!!"

Hanner swallowed hard, but nodded. Squeezing her eyes shut, she braced herself and let go.

Instantly, all three of them were thrown backwards, hurling through the air. Goomblaine and Hanner were screaming, but Mario grabbed onto both of them –

And they crashed into the branches of a tree.

"Yikes!" Hanner cried as she and Goomblaine scrambled to grab onto a branch. Mario quickly gained his balance as he stood up on the branch and raced along to the very edge of it, where the Budgie Beast was waiting below for them.

"You're starting to annoy me now!" it threatened.

"Let's take care of that!" Mario snapped back.

As he reached the edge of the branch, he took a huge leap off of it, his arms waving wildly as he fell through the air. Completely unprepared for this move, the Budgie Beast looked up at him in shock –

Just in time to see Mario land squarely on his head.

"AAAAAWK!!" it cried as Mario performed a flawless Power Bounce, jumping on its head time and time again. Each time he landed, the Budgie Beast fell further and further down until Mario had finally driven it to the ground, where it lay in a weakened heap.

"You guys ready?" he shouted at Goomblaine and Hanner, who had jumped to the ground behind him.

"Leave it to me!" Hanner declared, racing forward and grabbing her abandoned hammer back out of the ground as she ran. From where it was staggering and struggling to take to the air, the Budgie Beast looked at her with alarm in its eyes.

Was it truly about to be defeated?

_Maybe I'm not perfect, _thought Hanner, _but I'm still better than you!_

With one loud and angry shout, she threw her hammer in a flawless arc, striking the malicious bird directly between the eyes.

"Graaaawk… NOOOOO!!" it howled, flapping its wings crazily as it tried to remain standing. It was no use. After one long moment, it finally toppled over and crashed to the ground, its energy completely spent.

The other Budgies were stunned.

"They – they won?!" one of them cried.

"W-what do we do NOOOOOOOW?!" another one wondered.

Hanner answered that for them.

"Who else wants a piece of this?" she threatened, shaking her hammer dangerously at them.

All the Budgies cried out in fear. They flapped out of the trees and into the air as fast as they could, flying up and out of sight. After it had cleared its head, the Budgie Beast staggered into the air and followed after them, looking furious but undeniably defeated. They would never be seen in Fleet Forest again.

"_Yeah! _All right!" Mario cheered, giving Hanner a big hug. "I knew we could do it! That was terrific, you guys!"

Hanner just grinned. "Aw, are you kidding? That was nothing."

"Hey, guys," said Goomblaine, "you might wanna check this out."

Mario and Hanner turned to look at what was holding Goomblaine's attention.

Where there had been nobody else just moments before, stepping out from behind the trees and looking stunned were dozens of Koopas and Hammer Bros. Most of them appeared weary, beaten, and disheveled. They all looked around in confusion.

"What's going on? Where are we?" asked one of them.

"The – the last thing I remember, I was lost in the forest somewhere – and now we're all here!" another one exclaimed.

"Who are _they?_" wondered Mario.

Hanner looked delighted. "They're – they're everybody who got lost in the forest! They're back!" she cried in joy. "I dunno how it happened, but they're all here!"

"Hanner? Is that you?" asked one Koopa. "What are you doing in here? And where are all those birds? Did – did they leave?"

"Man, they were _nasty_," shuddered someone else. "They thought we were after their treasure or something, so they attacked us and sent us somewhere where they said we could never find our way out!"

Mario smiled. "Well, they're all gone now. We took care of them," he informed them. "You guys can all go home now!"

"HOME!! FINALLY!!" cheered a Hammer Bro, racing off into the woods in a random direction before slowing to a stop. "Uh… which way is home?"

Hanner looked over at the Teleporting Tree that Mario and Goomblaine had come out of and grinned.

"Just go through there!" she said, pointing at it. "All you need to do is think about going home as hard as you can, and you will!"

The others looked a little skeptical when she said that.

"OH COME ON!! I'm telling the truth!" she shouted.

"All right, all right!" said the Hammer Bro. "If you say so. Come on, you guys, let's go!"

Everyone eagerly followed after him, forming a line and crowding into the tree as quickly as they could. One by one, they vanished from sight until only Mario, Goomblaine and Hanner were left.

"Well, I guess miracles really do happen," Mario remarked.

"Yeah. Just great. Now _we _can get out of here too, right?" Goomblaine asked.

Mario forgot what he was about to say, as he was suddenly alerted by a bright glow emanating from behind him. He slowly turned around and looked, and his partners did likewise.

It was the Sun Soul. Now that its protector had been defeated, it was slowly and gently floating toward the ground, approaching them as though it had a will of its own.

Mario smiled as he walked up to it… but his smile quickly faded from his face, replaced by a look of confusion. The Sun Soul didn't seem interested in him at all. Though he was standing right in front of it, the strange relic floated right past him…

…and stopped in front of Hanner.

The Hammer Sis stared at it with wide eyes.

"M-Mario?" she said nervously. "What's up with this thing? I feel like it's… looking at me!"

Mario and Goomblaine looked equally stunned. But the Sun Soul stayed where it was, glowing even more brightly than before in Hanner's presence.

Unsure of what to do, she slowly reached out and took it in her hands.

"Ha ha… I think it likes me," she said with an uneasy giggle. "Huh… that's weird. It almost feels like… I'm holding onto _myself_. Does… does that make any sense?"

And then, suddenly, Mario realized what was going on.

"Goomblaine," he said in a shaky voice, "you remember what Rodolfo said to us? He said we had to find the Sun Soul… _and _the person it belonged to."

Goomblaine stared at him. "You're saying…"

"What? What do you mean?" Hanner looked up and asked him in alarm.

Mario's heart was pounding. He slowly grew a smile on his face.

"Hanner… I think our first Guardian is _you._"

Hanner nearly dropped the Sun Soul in shock.

"_Me?!_" she protested. "How can it be me?! You said the Guardians had to be, I dunno, really brave or pure or something!"

"Well, I don't know, but you were awfully brave back there," said Mario. "And if being pure means doing the right thing, well, you've been doing the right thing as long as I've known you. I dunno, Hanner, you seem like the perfect Guardian to me."

Hanner was dumbfounded. This couldn't be right! How could _she _be a Guardian? She was nowhere near as perfect or as admirable as they had been! This had to be a mistake…

But that Sun Soul in her hands… it felt like it was talking to her… and it was telling her it wasn't a mistake… that it really did belong with her… that it was _part _of her.

Her eyes started to sting.

"I think… maybe… maybe you're right, Mario," she said, trying futilely to keep her voice steady.

She smiled. "Don't you worry, Mario! I'll be the best Guardian you've ever seen! You'll be proud of me! I promise."

Mario smiled back encouragingly. He, Hanner, and Goomblaine watched in awe as the Sun Soul began to shine in triumph.

**_Mario found the Dawn Soul! His Star Power is now 1! With Hanner's help, he can now use the special move, Second Wind!_**

**~END OF CHAPTER~**

_Mario and friends ventured deep into Fleet Forest and successfully defeated the monsters who had been plaguing the town. The citizens of Fleetmont can now rest easy, knowing the forest is safe once again. Not only that, but the first new Guardian of Day is none other than Mario's friend, Hanner! Will he be able to find the other five so easily? Mario's adventure has only just begun… what challenges await him in the future?_

**_To Be Continued…_**

––––

**A/N: **Woo! What did you all think?

Anyway, I'm kind of having a dilemma right now… I have no idea how to incorporate Bowser into this story. I've pretty much got the plot all planned out without him as of right now, but I'm open to suggestions. Or would you be terribly disappointed if he didn't show up?

But aside from that, thank you all for sticking around for the first chapter. Here's to another seven!


	9. Chapter 1 Interlude

**A/N: **Damn, I am just so impatient to get more of this story up. Mostly I just wanna get to Chapter 2, NEW PARTNER TIEM *flails*. Sadly I can pretty much guarantee I won't always be able to update so quickly, so enjoy this while you can.

––––

_**The Temple of the Sun**_

_**00:00**_

Peach had no idea what was going on.

Quite a while ago – she didn't know how long anymore – she, Luigi and Toadsworth had woken up to find themselves in a huge, circular room with windows covering the walls. Light was spilling in, although it didn't seem to have any particular source. On the floor was some sort of huge, ornate clock, with a pattern identical to the one they had seen on the mosaic.

But more importantly, there wasn't a door. They had no way out of here.

None of them had any idea where they were, nor did they have the slightest idea how they had gotten there. In fact, as they conversed among themselves, they found that all three of them had the same final memory – collapsing to the ground outside the Soluna Temple as some horrible pain devoured up their consciousness.

And to make matters worse, Mario was nowhere to be found.

"Oh, what if something terrible has happened to him?" Peach cried for at least the tenth time. The three of them had been here alone for some time now, possibly an entire day. "Didn't that Rodolfo man say how nobody was allowed in that temple?"

"You really think just going in there could've caused all _this _to happen?" Luigi asked skeptically. "I mean, I know it wasn't allowed, but you really think he could have incurred some unholy wrath just by doing _that_?"

"If you ask me, we should stop worrying about Master Mario and start worrying about ourselves!" Toadsworth fumed. "We haven't the slightest idea where we are, nor does there seem to be any way _out _of here!"

Peach sighed, sinking into a sitting position on top of the giant clock. "Oh, you may be right, Toadsworth," she moaned. "If only we knew where we were, that would at least be something."

"Well, allow me to oblige, Princess," came a sudden voice. Luigi shrieked and hid behind Peach, and all three of them nervously faced what sounded like the source of the disembodied voice.

Suddenly, a billow of choking black smoke rose up from the floor as the space around it seemed to twist and warp. Peach's eyes widened as a tall, dark figure came stepping out from the smoke, causing it to disperse. As he did so, three more smaller puffs of smoke suddenly appeared behind him, and out came skittering three dark blue, imp-like creatures.

Though Peach and the others had no way of knowing, they were currently in the presence of King Shroude, as well as Jaff, Pell, and Nobb.

"I haven't had any actual prisoners in a long time, you know. Consider it an honor," Shroude chuckled. "And in the Temple of the Sun, no less! Yes, you three are much more fortunate than most of the others in this pathetic world!"

"Wait a minute – " Peach stammered. "Did you just say – we're in the Temple of the Sun?! But – how is that even possible?"

"Did _you _bring us here?" Luigi asked timidly.

"Of course I did. And to answer your question, Princess, anything at all is possible when you are the supreme Master of Night."

Peach glowered at their captor, as well as the Darkstriders who were silently flanking him.

"If we're really in the Temple of the Sun," she said suspiciously, "then where are the Twelve Guardians? Shouldn't they be here somewhere?"

"Oh, I already took care of them, trust me," Shroude replied smugly. "The Guardians of Night are safely under my control. And the Guardians of Day… well, they won't plague this world any longer."

He drew his finger across his throat with a meaning smile. Peach gasped, and her hands flew to her mouth.

"Why, you foul boor!" Toadsworth raged, barging forward and shaking his cane. "Are you suggesting what I think you are?!"

"I had a feeling you wouldn't understand," Shroude sighed theatrically. He snapped his fingers, and the three Darkstriders leapt at Toadsworth, claws bared. The Toad cried out in shock and ran back to where he had been standing.

"Yes, I did indeed destroy the Guardians of Day – and if you were smart, you'd be thanking me," the Master of Night said sternly. "I just don't understand what the appeal of Day is. A world of eternal Night would be so much better, don't you think?

"Unfortunately," he sighed, folding his arms over his chest, "my loyal servants here had just finished telling me that my master plan didn't go quite as flawlessly as I had expected. It would seem that rather than eliminating Day once and for all, I've merely separated it from Night completely. A good start, of course, but I'm sure I can improve on it even more."

Peach had heard enough. She leapt to her feet, absolutely fuming, as intimidating as a princess in a pink dress could possibly be.

"I can't believe what I'm hearing!!" she shouted. "How can you upset the order of the world like this?! You really think you'll get away with it? And what's the point of keeping us three captive?! And where's Mario?! What have you done with him?"

King Shroude laughed heartily, which did nothing but upset Peach even more. Suddenly, without warning, he swept across the room, covering the distance between himself and Peach in less than a second. He was now standing directly over her.

"You ask too many questions, Princess," he said with a smirk. "But since I'm so kind, I'll humor you. Yes, of course I'm getting away with it. And trust me, Princess, I have a reason of my own for keeping you here.

"Believe it or not, I've heard of you before, _Peach_. A princess of your purity, legend, and stature comes along once in a great while. I believe you're the person I'm looking for in order to make my plans complete."

Peach glowered up at him. "Let me guess – you're trying to resurrect an ancient demon, and you need my body for it to possess?" she said accusingly. "Or maybe you're trying to destroy the universe, and you need me to marry someone in order to create an interdimensional rift that will swallow everything up?"

Shroude stared at her for a long time before he burst out laughing again.

"You have a _very _active imagination, Princess," he remarked.

"You villains and your ridiculous plans," Peach fumed. "You can't surprise me anymore. And no matter what you _are _planning, I refuse to go along with it."

"Well, there I'm afraid you don't have a choice," Shroude replied. "As for your two friends here, I have no real use for them other than I couldn't have them sniffing around my new world and looking for a way to rescue you. Better to keep them here, and out of trouble. I would have done the same thing to that Mario person, but he eluded me somehow."

"Mario?!" Luigi cried. "So you do know what happened to him?"

Shroude glared at Luigi, who immediately shrank back.

"I don't see what business that is of yours, but yes, my minions have been keeping an eye on him. Trust me, he'll be out of the picture soon enough."

"Uh, well, actually, my lord," Jaff spoke up nervously. "We just found out that Mario, uh… well, he found the first Sun Soul. And he found the first new Guardian as well."

Shroude's eyes suddenly bulged.

"AND WHEN WERE YOU GOING TO GET AROUND TO TELLING ME THAT?!?" he bellowed, rounding on Jaff. "How on earth did he find out where the Sun Soul was?! And he defeated those birds as well?!"

"Apparently, my lord," Jaff said timidly.

Shroude muttered something to himself, straightening out his robes and attempting to collect himself.

Peach smiled in vicious triumph. "Ha! You hear that? I don't know what you're planning, but Mario's working to undo it even as we're talking! He's going to bring those Guardians back!"

"Oh, just shut up, would you?" Shroude sighed, massaging his temple. "All right, so Mario got lucky this time. But his luck is about to run out! A teleporting forest and angry birds are nothing compared to what lies ahead. If Mario wants to find the second Sun Soul, he'll have to journey to the summit of Mt. Tourmaline, the tallest mountain in Chronoside!"

"He'll do it. I know he will," Peach said firmly.

Shroude rolled his eyes. "Unfortunately, you may be right. It seems he's a bigger threat than I thought."

He turned to his minions. "Jaff! Pell! Nobb! You three have already had the dishonor of losing to Mario once. This may be your chance to redeem yourselves."

"What do you ask of us, my lord?" asked Pell.

"What do you _think _I ask of you?! You're going to Mt. Tourmaline right now, and you're going to guard that Sun Soul! Prevent Mario from reaching it at any cost!"

"As you wish, my lord!" Jaff declared. "Darkstriders, let's go!"

All three of them suddenly raised up their arms, sending up plumes of black smoke that surrounded them. When the air cleared, they had vanished.

"I hate to tell you this, Princess, but Mario's not getting any farther. Not if I have something to say about it," Shroude said with a malicious grin. "Now I'm afraid I must take my leave… but we'll meet again."

He stepped backwards, and like the Darkstriders, was surrounded in black smoke as he waved his scepter above his head. Before long, he too was gone.

For a moment, Peach, Luigi and Toadsworth were all silent.

"Well, at least we know where we are now," Luigi finally spoke up.

"Well, if that isn't the most unpleasant brute I've ever met," Toadsworth mumbled. "But I knew we could count on Master Mario. He'll get us out of this mess, I'm quite certain of it."

Peach didn't look so confident.

"Toadsworth, didn't you hear what he said? Mario is looking for those Sun Soul things, whatever they are, but he doesn't even know where the next one is! Only we know that!"

"Well, we gotta tell him somehow!" Luigi decided. "Princess Peach, all those other times you were kidnapped, how did you talk to Mario and tell him what to do?"

"I… I always had someone," Peach recalled miserably. "But there's nobody this time. Nobody to send information to Mario for us. And escape is out of the question. If we're really in the Temple of the Sun, then we're in an entirely different dimension."

Luigi and Toadsworth watched in concern as Peach slowly sat down, looking utterly hopeless. No matter what, even in the middle of a kidnapping, she'd _always _been able to help Mario before. She'd always been able to do something.

She'd never been this helpless before.

"I'm sorry, Mario," she said softly, "but I think this time, you're just going to have to get by without me."

––

––

_**Meanwhile, far, far away…**_

Peach's castle was unusually peaceful without the princess around. All the Mushroom Retainers who ran the place were casually going about their business, cleaning, cooking, and keeping the place looking nice for Peach's return.

Whenever she left on an adventure (or more often, got kidnapped) there was a certain lull in the action around the castle. Peach certainly knew how to liven up the place with her constant itching for excitement. She would be gone for several weeks, though, and the servants were starting to think that there wouldn't be any excitement for them until she came back.

That was about when the front wall of the castle came bursting in.

"GRAW HAW HAW HAW!!" laughed the intruder who had just torn through the wall like the paper it was. It was none other than Bowser, the Koopa King.

"Man, I can't believe I never thought of doing that before!" he chuckled to himself as he stomped into the castle foyer. "Forget lifting the castle up into space – next time, I'm going for the direct approach!"

"HOLY ELDSTAR!! IT'S BOWSER!!" cried one of the Toad servants.

"MOMMYYYYYYYY!!!" shrieked another one, hurling the vase he'd been cleaning into the air and running for his life.

"Hey, what's with the cold reception?" Bowser grumbled as the castle flew into a panic at the sight of him. "It's _Bowser_, baby! I'm just here to kidnap the princess! It's Monday, remember?"

"They should learn to show you a little respect, your nastiness! Perhaps we should teach them a lesson!" croaked a voice from behind him. Up next to him came shuffling his equally unpleasant right-hand woman, Kammy Koopa.

"Hey, you!" Bowser snapped, grabbing a Toad who had been running by him. "Where's Princess Peach? She's been expecting me, you know!"

"P-P-P-Princess Peach?" the Toad stammered. He was shaking so hard it looked like he was having a seizure. "S-s-she's not here right now!"

"What's this nonsense?" Kammy demanded, prodding the Toad in the side with her staff. "The princess isn't here? Then where is she, you fool?"

"Uh… s-s-she, Mario and Luigi all went on vacation," he replied weakly. "They're off to some country called Chronoside."

Bowser did not look at all pleased about that.

"WHAT?!?" he roared. "You mean Mario, Luigi _and _Peach all went on vacation together?! AND THEY DIDN'T INVITE ME?!?"

He started stomping on the floor in fury.

"Oh, my… your awfulness! Please contain yourself! You'll lose your mystique!" Kammy reminded him urgently.

Bowser grumbled something that sounded like an agreement, eventually calming down.

"All right, Mushroom Cap. Thanks for the heads-up," he grunted, shoving the Toad away. He scrambled back to join the other servants, who were crowded together at the opposite end of the room and warily pointing their spears.

"Kammy! Change of plans!" Bowser declared, turning to face her. "We're going to this Chronoside place right now! I won't stand for Peach brushing me off like this!"

"Uh… is that really such a good idea, Lord Bowser?" Kammy wondered. "It'll take all day to fly there from here! Maybe we should just wait until the princess returns!"

"What? Whaddaya _mean_, wait until she returns?!" growled the Koopa King. "You mean I should act like her little vacation is _more _important than me kidnapping her? And I should let those Mario Brothers get away with disrespecting me like this? That's not how I roll, haggy!!"

"Oh, dear me…" Kammy grumbled as Bowser turned around and barged back out of the castle, ripping another hole in the wall in the process. The elderly Magikoopa hurriedly tottered out after him.

"COULDN'T YOU HAVE JUST GONE THROUGH THE FIRST HOLE?!" shouted one of the Toads.

Within minutes, Bowser had taken off in his Clown Copter and was soaring through the sky. Kammy was flying behind him on her broom, struggling to keep up.

"Urgh… I might be getting too old for this…" she grumbled.

"Cram it, you old bag!" Bowser growled, always peering far ahead at the horizon. "I don't have time for any nonsense this time! This is a matter of personal honor!"

Just as Kammy had said, the flight ended up lasting all day long. They flew over stretching land and endless ocean, and the sky had already begun to darken by the time Bowser announced that they were finally approaching Chronoside.

But there was something else about the sky.

"My word, Lord Bowser! Have a look at those clouds, would you?"

As they got closer, it became more and more clear that the sky ahead of them was covered with massive, pitch black clouds.

"So they're having a little bad weather. Big deal!" Bowser scoffed.

Kammy, however, knew better. Being a Magikoopa of her skill and experience, she had a sense for anything magical and supernatural. Although, you didn't need to be the least bit magic to know there was something _wrong _about those clouds.

"Lord Bowser, maybe we should turn back…" she said nervously.

"Pssh… if you're scared, be my guest!"

She was about to do exactly that… when she realized to her horror that she couldn't turn her broom around. She couldn't stop. She couldn't even slow down.

In fact, she was going faster. It felt like those clouds were pulling her in.

"Lord Bowser… there's something very wrong going on!!" she cried, clinging onto the handle as her broom flew faster and faster on its own accord.

"What the? Kammy, what are you – "

And then Bowser felt it too. The propeller on his Clown Copter was starting to spin out of control, and the Copter itself was beginning to lurch violently forward, threatening to throw the Koopa King out.

"What the heck is going on here?!" he demanded.

"I KNEW THIS WAS A BAD IDEA!!" Kammy shrieked. The clouds were so huge now that they were looming up and obscuring the duo's vision entirely, and they were getting closer by the second. They could see flashes of black lightning racing between the clouds, accompanied by crashes of thunder.

"INCOMING!!!" Bowser bellowed.

Both of them screamed in panic, unable to stop themselves as some invisible force pulled them in faster and faster –

Until they finally vanished into the darkness.

**––––**

**A/N: **Yeah, I had to add in Bowser and Kammy. It just wouldn't be a Paper Mario adventure without them.

But what will happen to them now? And to Peach and the others? Only _time _will tell…

Okay, that pun was awful.


	10. Post Chapter 1

**_Fleetmont_**

**_6:00 am_**

By the time Mario, Goomblaine and Hanner had walked back to Fleetmont (all the while having to deal with the anomaly of the sun rising _backwards_), the entire town was swept up in a madcap celebration. All the missing citizens had returned, and friends and family were being joyfully reunited on all sides.

"Wow! I've never seen the place this busy before!" Hanner laughed.

"Hanner? Hanner! Is that you?" came a voice from somewhere in the bustling crowd, and suddenly Sergeant Sledge came running out.

"Oh, praise the stars! You're all okay!" he cried in relief as he approached them. "Hanner, did you honestly go off into the forest with those two? Really, I've been worried sick about you!"

"Sorry, Sarge," Hanner muttered. Truth be told, she was still a little upset about the pointless job he had given her.

"We're lucky she did, though," Mario came to her rescue. "We never could have beaten those Pudgy Budgies without her help!"

Sledge straightened up. "So I've been hearing the truth, then? _You _three got rid of them?"

"You sound shocked," Goomblaine muttered. "Nice to know we got so much support."

"And I see you found that Sun Soul of yours, too," Sledge went on, noticing the glowing egg Hanner was clutching to her chest. "Hanner, what are _you _doing with that thing?"

"Turns out, it _belongs _to me," she said brightly.

Sledge frowned. "Uh huh…"

"Hey, Hanner!" came another voice. The green- and blue-shelled Hammer Bros quickly came up behind Sledge.

"Oh man, Hanner, we were talking to Sarge about you!" cried the blue-shelled one. "We really thought you were a goner, man. But you were the one who got rid of the birds?"

"Yeah… guess I'm good for something after all, right, Sarge?"

Sledge immediately started looking guilty. He bowed his head and sighed.

"…I'm sorry, Hanner," he admitted. "I suppose I haven't been treating you very fairly. I was starting to doubt you could handle being on the force. But you really proved me wrong." He suddenly started looking proud. "You're a truly great Hammer Bro for what you did for the town. I'm certainly glad to have you around."

Hanner had been smiling, but now her face fell.

"Uh… well, about that," she said awkwardly. "Y'see, I kind of have to leave town for a while and go with Mario. He's on this really important mission, and he needs me along."

Sledge turned skeptically to Mario. "'Really important mission'?"

"I wouldn't take her from you unless I absolutely had to," Mario promised. "But she's the only one who can help. I hope that's all right."

Sledge looked back and forth between them, finally sighing deeply in defeat.

"Well, if you really need her that badly, I can't say no," he decided. "Just bring her back soon, would you? Already she's become some sort of town hero. I think people will want to hear about what happened directly from her."

"Hey, you guys can't leave _now!_" the green-shelled Bro protested. "We're having a homecoming party for everybody who got lost! And you guys are the guests of honor!"

Mario looked surprised. "Well… I don't really know. We really should get going, and – "

"All _right! _A party!!" Hanner cheered, and that was the last word on it.

The festivities ending up lasting far longer than Mario would have liked, but he had to admit, the cheerfulness of the occasion was contagious. He did get a little tired of constantly having to recount how they'd defeated the Pudgy Budgies, though. When everything had died down, he, Goomblaine and Hanner unanimously agreed to stay at the Hotel for a while, Mario just then realizing he hadn't gotten any sleep since he'd come to Chronoside.

They woke up at six in the morning – of course – and after a few more goodbyes, they began the long journey back.

**_––_**

––

**_Soluna Town_**

**_12:00 Noon_**

Crawling back up through the Warp Pipe, Mario was relieved to find Soluna Town exactly the way he had left it. Everyone was still cheerfully going about their lives, and there was no sign of any impending crisis.

"I've always wanted to come here," Hanner giggled. "What a neat place this is! Sure is more interesting than Fleetmont."

"Okay, so what do we do now, exactly?" asked Goomblaine, sounding grouchy as ever.

"Well, we should probably go find Rodolfo," Mario quickly decided. "If anyone can give us an idea of where the second Sun Soul is, it's him."

"Who's Rodolfo?" asked Hanner.

"Trust me, you'll know him very well by the time this is over."

Mario led the other two over to Rodolfo's narrow little house, which was fit very snugly in between two other white plaster buildings on the side of the street, and rapped on the door.

"Hey, Rodolfo? We're – "

"MARIO!!" the Doogan cried in delight, throwing open the door so abruptly that the trio standing outside leapt back in alarm. "Oh, you came back, just as I knew you would! Come in right this instant, all of you!"

He practically shoved them into the foyer, jittering with excitement.

"Mario, how were things? Not too troublesome, I hope? You did find the Sun Soul, yes? I should think so, otherwise you wouldn't have come back, isn't that – "

"Geez, Rodolfo, calm down," Mario sighed. "Yes, we found the Sun Soul – " Rodolfo started clapping in anticipation. " – and we found the Guardian, too."

Rodolfo's eyes looked like they would bulge out of his head.

"You did?! Where?!"

Hanner, while obviously taken aback by the eccentric Doogan, very quietly cleared her throat and waved at him.

Rodolfo turned to her. "You? It's you?"

He whooped in excitement, scaring all three of the others, and then seized Hanner's hand and began shaking it violently. "What an absolute _honor! _I can't tell you how thrilled I am to meet you, miss! I never in my life imagined I'd get to meet one of the Guardians face-to-face!"

Hanner was looking very uneasy. "Uh… I'm really just a regular kid, mister. Honest."

"Nonsense! If you were selected to be one of the new Guardians, then there's nothing regular about you! And I mean that in a good way, mind you."

"But she's not a _real _Guardian yet," said Mario. "I mean… we don't think she is, at least. She doesn't have any special powers or anything."

"No, I suppose not," Rodolfo sighed, looking sobered for the first time. "That will have to wait until all six Guardians have been awakened to their identities, I believe. Yes, you'll need all of you in order to realize your true powers. Although, I should think just having that Sun Soul with you should grant you _some _kind of ability."

"Well… I did kind of feel _something_," Hanner admitted. "Yeah, when I first put my hands on that Sun Soul… well, it almost felt like there was some kind of magic inside me. I don't really know how else to describe it."

"Hmm…" Rodolfo seemed to be pondering this, when all of a sudden he snapped his fingers.

"Mario! Are you familiar with something known as Star Power?"

Mario blinked. "Uh… actually, yes. Very much so."

Rodolfo nodded rapidly. "Yes, yes, I should hope you are! There are many different beings and relics throughout the world that are said to grant Star Power to their wielder. Just last week, I was researching a legend on seven ancient and powerful jewels known as the Crystal Stars – "

"Uh, yeah. I've seen those."

"Well, of course you have," Rodolfo chuckled. "But my point is, the Twelve Guardians are also said to have the ability to bestow Star Power on a chosen person. In fact, the stories that discuss the calling of a new Guardian describe how the person who awoke them would be able to perform a special ability in conjunction with that Guardian."

"So you're saying Hanner and I… together we can use some kind of special move?"

"Yes, yes! Why don't you try it out right now?"

Mario and Hanner looked at each other unsurely, and the plumber shrugged.

"Here goes nothing, I guess," he decided, taking Hanner by the hand. "Uh… Star Power activate?"

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a spiraling wind seemed to form around the two of them. Mario leapt back in shock as it whirled around them, and he noticed it actually seemed to be glittering in a rainbow of colors. Finally it rose up and vanished, and Mario was stunned to realize he suddenly felt completely energized.

"Woah… that was neat," Hanner gawked.

"That's it!" Rodolfo cheered, jumping up and down in excitement. "That move is known as Second Wind! It has the power to restore your energy if you are weak."

"Well, that's definitely good to know," Mario remarked. "So once we get the other Guardians, I'll be able to do something like that with all of them?"

"Unless I'm horribly mistaken, and I rarely am about this sort of thing, then yes," Rodolfo confirmed with a smile. "But in order to do that, of course, you'll need to find the remaining Sun Souls as well. And I – "

Suddenly, his eyes grew very wide, as he seemed to remember something very important. He smacked himself in the forehead.

"Oh, Mario! Forgive me! I've been an utter _fool!!_" he cried. "I just now remember what you asked me before you left – how you wanted me to keep an eye out for those other friends of yours!"

Mario's heart skipped. "You mean Luigi and Peach? Did you find them?"

"Why don't you come see for yourself?" Rodolfo laughed, grabbing Mario by his sleeve and pulling him along. Goomblaine and Hanner tailed along after them until he had led them into the living room.

Mario gasped.

Sitting there at the coffee table, looking completely unharmed, were Peach, Luigi, and Toadsworth.

Peach looked up and gasped as well, jumping to her feet. "Mario?!"

"Guys!!" Mario cried, racing forward and hugging Peach tightly. "You're okay! You're all okay! Oh, thank goodness! You have no idea how worried I was!"

"Hey, take it easy, big bro," Luigi laughed, and Mario remembered him and hugged him as well.

As soon as he let go, though, the smile fell slightly from his face.

"Oh… but… that's only half of you, isn't it?"

"What's that?" asked Peach. "Oh, yes… Rodolfo told us about that. He said the world was split in half, and there's other versions of us somewhere now?"

"What a load of poppycock," Toadsworth scoffed. "That fellow is completely daft, if you ask me."

"Actually, he's not," Mario sighed. "It's true. There's another half of this world, one where it's always night. And everyone in this half is in that one as well."

"Boy, that's creepy," Luigi said with a shudder. "I only want there to be one of me!"

"We're working on that," the older brother assured him. "Did Rodolfo tell you guys anything else? How we're looking for the Sun Souls and the Guardians and all that?"

Peach wasn't listening. She was suddenly crouched in front of Goomblaine.

"Oh, Mario! What cute friends you have!" she squealed, tugging on Goomblaine's bandana. "These are your new partners, aren't they? They remind me so much of your old ones! You always seem to have a Goomba and a Koopa with you, it's so silly – "

"Hands _off_, lady," Goomblaine snarled, and Peach jerked her hand back in alarm.

"Say, Rodolfo, there is one other thing," Mario recalled now that he was looking at his partners again. "We're pretty sure there's only one version of Hanner."

"Well, of course there is!" Rodolfo agreed as though it were completely obvious. "You can't very well have two halves of a _Guardian_, can you? No, I believe everyone who was chosen currently only exists in one half of the world, like our dear friend Hanner here."

"Well, then, we have a sure-fire way of telling who the other Guardians are," Hanner remarked with a grin. "There's only one of each of them!"

"Exactly. And now that we're on the subject, I suggest we figure out exactly how to go about finding the next one."

"Good idea," Mario sighed, sitting down and unfurling his map over the coffee table.

As he looked, he saw that the next region of Chronoside they would be visiting, on the southwest corner of the map, was a mountainous area. In fact, drawings of jagged peaks took up practically the entire corner of the paper.

"Ah yes, the famous Pietra Bluffs," Rodolfo regarded the map. "One of the largest mountain ranges in the world. And if I recall, there are hundreds of mountain villages around there. No doubt our Guardian is living in one of them."

"Okay, but which one?" Mario asked doubtfully. "I mean, look at all those mountains. We don't have time to go climbing _all _of them!"

Rodolfo sighed. "I'm afraid I can't help you there, Mario. It could be any of them."

Mario frowned deeply, wondering where exactly they could go from here, when suddenly Peach spoke up.

"Oh, Mario! I know where it is!" she realized. "The Sun Soul! It's at the very top of Mt. Tourmaline!"

Everyone in the room turned to stare at Peach.

"…How do you know _that?_" Mario asked after a very long moment.

Peach suddenly looked nervous and blushed. "Oh… I don't even know," she confessed. "I just all of a sudden realized it somehow. But I'm positive that's where it is, Mario, I really am!"

Completely confused, Mario turned to Rodolfo to see what he thought of this. But it was Hanner who spoke next.

"Hey, Mario, you remember what I said before?" she recalled. "How I thought that if one half of you learns something, then the other half knows it too?"

"You think that's what happened?" asked Mario. "So then the Peach from Nightside somehow found out where the Sun Soul is? But that would mean – "

"Your Nightside counterparts have been _kidnapped _by King Shroude, and he's holding you prisoner in the Temple of the Sun where he just so happened to divulge the location of the Morning Soul!!" Rodolfo cried in a sudden panic.

Now everyone turned to stare at Rodolfo.

"Uh… I guess that could be it," Mario decided.

Peach looked very alarmed. "What?! We were kidnapped?! By the awful man who killed those Guardians? How could that be? What does he want from us?"

"So only _half _of you got kidnapped?" Mario chuckled. "Well, that's fifty percent better than average."

"Stop fooling around, Mario!" Peach snapped, grabbing him by the shoulders. "We have to save me! I mean, us!"

"Princess Peach, that's quite out of the question," Rodolfo said firmly. "We currently have _no _access to the Temple of the Sun, and I'm afraid we won't until we have found all six Guardians. Besides, this may work to our advantage. Your Nightside selves can find out where the other Sun Souls are being held, and then _you _will be able to tell us."

"But… what if something bad happens to us over there?" Luigi protested, looking frightened. "Doesn't that mean something bad happens to _us _too?"

"That may be, but I wouldn't worry about such a thing. If it were King Shroude's intention to finish you off, he would have done so already."

Mario narrowed his eyes at Rodolfo. "Are you _sure _about that?"

"Almost entirely."

Mario groaned and shook his head. He had learned from previous experience that "almost" usually meant "no".

"Well, if you're right, Peach, then I suppose we have to go to Mt. Tourmaline," he said resignedly.

"Yes, Mt. Tourmaline… the tallest mountain in all of Chronoside. That would be a very fitting place to hide the Morning Soul," Rodolfo mused. "You'll certainly need help getting up there. Mountain climbing is not a layman's sport."

"I suppose the first thing to do would be to learn a little more about the place," Mario decided. "Any thoughts on where we could go to do that?"

"Well, there is the Department of Tourism… their headquarters are on the other side of town," the Doogan recalled. "Many people visit Mt. Tourmaline yearly, so the department would be the best place to obtain information about it."

"Oh, Mario! You mean you have to leave again already?" Peach cried, quickly standing up. "Well, I'm coming with you this time! I don't want us to be separated any longer, and that's that!"

"What? Don't be foolish, Princess!" Toadsworth snapped, standing up along with her and holding his cane out in front of her. "It's far too dangerous out there for you! I was assigned to look after you, and so I shall!"

"But Toadsworth, can't you see he _needs _me?" Peach protested, starting to look impatient. "We'll be much better off if all of us go together! There's no use in us just staying here while Mario goes off by himself!"

"Actually, I'm afraid accompanying Mario is out of the question for the rest of us," Rodolfo sighed as he folded his arms. "We're only halves of people, you know. We can only remain in the half of the world to which we belong. In order to do collect all the Sun Souls, one must travel through Day _and _Night, and the only people who can do that are those who haven't been split – namely, Mario and the Guardians."

"And _me_, if anyone cares," Goomblaine muttered.

Peach visibly wilted. "Oh, I see," she sighed. "And I was so looking forward to sightseeing around Chronoside too… well, Mario, just promise me you'll be careful out there, won't you?"

"Yeah, and we'll try and find out where all those Sun Souls are," Luigi promised. "I just wish we could come with you guys. We could really help out in a pinch."

"You guys don't have to worry," Hanner promised them. She dramatically pulled out her hammer and pointed it at the sky. "As a proud member of the Hammer Force, it is my duty to uphold peace and justice wherever I go! I will help Mario, no matter the odds!"

Goomblaine started snorting in uncontrollable laughter at her theatrical display.

"And Goomblaine will help too, of course," Mario said impatiently.

––

And so Mario and his partners bade farewell to their friends before setting off across town. As they walked down the cobblestone street, Mario became aware that he still hadn't seen all of Soluna Town. There were plenty of shops and landmarks that caught his eye – one in particular.

"Hey, guys, what's this?"

They had reached a circular area in the middle of town where numerous benches were set up for people to lounge around. In the very center of the area, though, was a strange-looking pillar or altar of some kind. It was made of white marble with gold patterns decorating it, and it rose up to about Mario's height.

"I haven't seen this thing yet… what's it for?" he asked, assuming at least one of his partners would know the answer.

"It's just some other dumb tradition they've got around here. It's a Star Pedestal," Goomblaine replied listlessly.

"Yeah, those things are really important," said Hanner. "I think there's one of those in every town and city in Chronoside. They've got one in Fleetmont."

"What do they do?"

"Normally, nothing," said the Hammer Sis. "But there's a legend that says if you return a wandering star to a Star Pedestal, something good'll happen to you."

Mario looked intrigued. "A 'wandering star', huh? I don't suppose you know what that's all about?"

"No. _Nobody _does, because there's no such thing," said Goomblaine. "Seriously, that's just stupid. Those things don't do squat, and they never will."

"Aw, you never know, Mario," Hanner said encouragingly as she and the plumber went off after Goomblaine, who was already impatiently leaving. "Maybe we'll find one sometime on this crazy adventure. Wouldn't that make a good story?"

"I dunno. This story is complicated enough already."

––

The headquarters for the Department of Tourism, as it turned out, was a rather small and unimpressive building. There was an unoccupied information desk in the front, several chairs set up for people to wait in, and a back room which Mario never did get to see. There was also a case full of pamphlets and brochures, which Goomblaine and Hanner started leafing through while Mario stood at the desk.

"Hellooooooo?" he sighed, ringing the bell. "Come on, where could they be? This is a bit of an urgent case."

"It must be lunch hour," Hanner decided.

Goomblaine glared at her. "It's _always _lunch hour here."

Hanner blushed. "Oh yeah… I keep forgetting about that."

"Well, this is pointless," Mario grumbled, folding his arms. "We'd better just go back to Rodolfo's house and tell him that – "

"AHEM! AHEM! AHEM! Last call for the Pietra Bluffs! I repeat, _last call! _If you signed up for a tour of the glorious Pietra Bluffs, YOU'D BETTER BE HERE NOW!!!"

Suddenly, from out of the back room came marching a large group of people who all seemed to be wearing hiking gear. Leading the group was the one who had been shouting, a Bald Cleft wearing a hardhat with a light set into it. Walking next to him and holding a clipboard was a Monty Mole wearing a pith helmet.

"Yeah, yeah, you heard the man," sighed the mole, scribbling something down. "All payments are final, no refunds, we cannot be held accountable for any crippling, life-threatening accidents that may occur while you tour with us – "

Mario blinked. "Woah, woah, woah!" he said, running eagerly up to the Cleft. "You guys are leaving on a tour of Pietra Bluffs? Right now?"

"ALL PAYMENTS ARE FINAL!!!" the Cleft barked at him. "At least I would be saying that to you if you had MADE a payment! Are you on the list? NO! Which means you did NOT make a payment! Which means NO TOUR FOR YOU!!!"

"Geez, what's this freak's problem?" Goomblaine grumbled.

"I AM CLEFFORD!!!" the Cleft bellowed at Goomblaine. "The founder and president of Clefford Touring Unlimited! You will NOT refer to me with such disrespect!"

The Monty Mole groaned and shook his head, looking thoroughly embarrassed. "I'm sorry, you guys," he sighed to Mario and his partners. "He gets like this right before a big tour. Adrenaline rush, I think."

"Well, look," Mario said to Clefford, "my friends and I _really _need to go to Mt. Tourmaline. It's kind of an emergency. If I can pay right now, can we join this tour group of yours?"

"PAH! I spit on such nonsense!" Clefford growled. "I provide first-class, five-star tours of every region in Chronoside! They are in high demand! Signups occur weeks, no, _months _in advance! Besides, it costs one thousand Coins per person! You don't exactly look like the types who are swimming in money!"

"Real tactful, this guy is," Hanner muttered.

Mario sighed. "Look, isn't there _any _way?" he pleaded. "You really have no idea how important this is."

"AND YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW IMPORTANT REVENUE IS TO ME!!! NOW BEGONE!!!"

"Now, wait just a minute," Hanner said decisively as Clefford began to lead his group out the door. "What if we paid you in something a lot _better _than Coins?"

Mario turned to stare at her. "Hanner, what are you – "

This got Clefford's attention as well. "You talk foolishness, annoying Koopa girl who is probably poor! What could possibly be better than Coins?"

"Well," Hanner said with a grin, "there's this."

She pulled out the Dawn Soul.

"ARE YOU NUTS?!?" Goomblaine screamed at her.

Clefford stared hungrily at the glowing Sun Soul, his eyes glazing over. Mario wouldn't have been surprised if he'd actually started to drool.

"Great Gritzy Desert!!" he cried. "I have no idea what that thing is, but it looks EXPENSIVE!!!"

"Yeah, well, you can't have this one," Hanner chastised, holding the Dawn Soul out of the greedy Cleft's reach as he tried to jump for it. "But what if we told you that there's another one just like it at the very top of Mt. Tourmaline?"

Clefford stopped jumping and glared up at her. "I'd say you must think I'm very stupid indeed."

"Yeah, we do," Goomblaine said without missing a beat.

"But I'm telling the truth," Hanner promised him. "And if you can get us all the way up the mountain, that thing could be yours!"

Had he not been gazing longingly at the Dawn Soul this entire time, Clefford probably would have said no. But luckily for Mario and the others, Clefford was one of the more selfish and foolish Clefts around.

"Oh… all right, all right!!" he finally decided. "You join tour! We go up Mt. Tourmaline! DELICIOUS GLOWING EGG IS MINE!!!"

The Monty Mole looked up from his clipboard. "Uh… sir, is that really a wise idea?"

"Morris, you fool!" Clefford spat at him. "I know a good business plan when I see one! You obviously don't! That's why you're just a beleaguered assistant!!"

"Yes, sir," Morris grumbled.

"Now, let's waste no more time hanging around this dank place!" Clefford declared. "THIS TOUR HAS BEGUN!!! ALL PAYMENTS ARE FINAL!!! NO REFUNDS!!! WE CANNOT BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR ANY CRIPPLING…"

"Hanner, I have no idea whether that was incredibly smart or incredibly _stupid _of you," Mario muttered to her as the three of them joined the back of the tour group, Clefford leading them all outside as he continued to shout. "You almost lost your Sun Soul, and now that guy thinks _he's _getting one!"

"Theoretically, he could be the next Guardian. Then it'd belong to him after all," Hanner said with a weak giggle. "Oh, Mario, I'm really sorry. But there was no other way he would let us come with! I had to do _something!_"

"I hope you ain't actually planning on letting him _have _it when we find it," Goomblaine growled at her. "Or you're even stupider than I thought."

Clefford led his tour group across town until they reached the southwestern area, where a Warp Pipe was sticking very conspicuously out of the ground.

"Now then!" he announced, turning to face the group. "Let me remind you all that Clefford Touring Unlimited _does not _accept stragglers! If you fall behind, you get left behind! And furthermore, you're all looking after your own selves and your own stuff! You already paid, so I really don't care what happens to you anymore! So don't come complaining to me if you fall and break your – "

"WE GET IT!!!" shouted Mario, Goomblaine, and several others.

"All right, all right, you ingrates. Let's hurry it up! Next stop, Mt. Tourmaline!"

He jumped into the Warp Pipe, with Morris very reluctantly following after him. The remainder of the tour group filed in one by one once they had gone. Mario, Goomblaine and Hanner were the last of all.

**––––**

**A/N: **Don't you just love those lengthy, dialogue-filled chapters? Yeah, me neither. Hope I didn't bore you to death. But Chapter 2 starts next, so you can get excited about that. :D

And Happy Holidays, everyone!


	11. Chapter 2, Part I

**Chapter 2:**

**The Marvelous Mountain Race**

––

**_Pietra Bluffs_**

**_8:00 am_**

Mario, Goomblaine and Hanner all climbed out of the Warp Pipe where the rest of the tour group was already waiting, and looked around in astonishment.

"Look at all those mountains…" Hanner breathed.

They were standing in the middle of a rocky terrain, and not too far off in the distance was an enormous mountain range that stretched far off in both directions. But from this vantage point, it was clear to see that one snowpeaked mountain was far taller than the rest of them.

"There it is! Glorious Mt. Tourmaline!" Clefford declared, quickly assuming his role as tour guide. "The largest mountain in Chronoside! First successfully scaled over a hundred years ago by Koopaul the Explorer! Nowadays, though, there's a trail that leads right to the top! Getting there should be no problem at all!"

"How many feet tall is it?" Mario asked curiously.

Clefford turned to glare at him. "How many feet tall is it?! HOW SHOULD I KNOW?!? I DO NOT WASTE TIME WITH SUCH TRIVIAL DETAILS!!!"

"I think my ears are gonna start hurting if he keeps doing that," Hanner grumbled.

"His _face _is gonna start hurting if he keeps doin' that," Goomblaine growled threateningly.

"Here's what our schedule is like, everyone," Morris announced. It was becoming increasingly apparent that he was the brains of the duo. "We'll climb halfway up the mountain, which will take us a day at the longest. Then we're going to stop at the famous Pebblegem Village, which is situated right in the middle of the mountain. It's a very popular rest spot for mountain climbers. Once we've restocked on supplies, we'll resume the climb the rest of the way to the top."

"Umm… are we actually going _all _way to the top?" piped up a female Buzzy Beetle. She sounded somewhat nervous, and everyone turned to look at her.

"What foolish question is that? OF COURSE WE'RE GOING ALL THE WAY!!! I need that shiny egg thing!!" Clefford snapped at her. "Uh… I mean… don't you want the full experience of the tour?"

"Well, I've just heard stories about that place," the Buzzy Beetle said shyly.

"Yeah, so have I," said someone else whose species Mario wasn't familiar with at all; he looked like a purple lump with a yellow tuft of hair. "Don't people say that there's, like, an Abominable Snowman living at the top of Mt. Tourmaline?"

Mario blanched. "Abominable Snowman?"

"Don't tell me you _believe _that," Goomblaine said to him in exasperation.

"Don't be ridiculous!! Of course there's nothing up there!" Clefford growled. "If there were, I most certainly would know about it already!"

"Uh, have you ever _given _a tour all the way up Mt. Tourmaline before?" asked Hanner.

Clefford blinked. "Well, erm… not a _successful _one…"

"Hoo boy. This was a mistake," muttered someone in the back of the crowd.

"THAT'S ENOUGH OF THAT!! This tour will go off without a hitch, and that's that!" the Cleft declared furiously. "Now let's go!"

And so the group set off toward the foothills of the mountain. It took them about an "hour" to make it there, and during that entire time Clefford continued to rattle off facts and statistics about the region. Mario began to suspect that he was making most of them up.

"Incredible thing about this mountain," the Cleft announced once they had finally reached the base of Mt. Tourmaline. "The thing is, it is so very tall, time actually passes as you go up it!"

Mario was stunned. "It does? How's that possible?"

"WHO CARES?!? All I know is that it's nearly ten all the way at the top, yes indeed!"

"If that's true, then that's awesome!" Hanner said with a smile.

_"If _it's true. This guy has a few loose screws," Mario said quietly to her as they started the long hike up the trail. "But I guess we're about to find out."

**_––_**

**_Mt. Tourmaline_**

**_8:00 am_**

The first leg of their memorable journey was an eventful one indeed. As the tour group began their climb, Mario and his partners slowly realized that Clefford had been right after all; as they continued to watch the sun, they saw that it was indeed climbing higher into the sky as they went.

"Isn't that something?" Hanner giggled.

"Yeah, real thrilling," Goomblaine muttered.

"Now then!" Clefford was saying in his overly loud and dramatic manner. "The trail up Mt. Tourmaline is famous for being fraught with danger and peril! All manner of dangerous creatures live around here, or so I've heard! But never fear! The great Clefford shall get us all safely through – HOLY RAPTUROUS RUINS, WHAT IS THAT THING?!?"

Startled, Mario looked up the trail at what had freaked Clefford out. He groaned when he saw it.

"Geez, Clefford, they're just Spinies."

"Nope. They're Mountain Spinies," Goomblaine said matter-of-factly as he pulled out his phone and Tattled on them. "They're way stronger and more violent than normal ones, and their shells and their spikes are made out of stone."

"MORE VIOLENT?! YOU DON'T HAVE TO TELL ME!!!" Clefford screamed as the gang of Mountain Spinies began chasing him around.

"I guess we'd better take care of this," Mario sighed. Luckily, he'd stopped at one of the shops in Soluna Town and bought a few POW Blocks before they'd set off, and he pulled one of them out now and gave it a good hit. In an instant, the ground jolted in a mighty tremor and the Mountain Spinies all flipped over, totally helpless (unfortunately, so did all the Koopas and Buzzy Beetles in the tour group, as well as Clefford himself). Mario, Goomblaine and Hanner then quickly dispatched of the enemies.

"There. That wasn't so hard," said Mario.

"THIS IS HIGHLY HUMILIATING!!!" Clefford shouted from where he was stuck upside down, his feet kicking in the air.

Once Mario and his partners had helped everyone up, Clefford brushed himself off, trying to still look dignified.

"Yes, well, that was very good work," he grumbled. "All right then! Mr. Annoying Mustache Person and friends! I'm appointing you three as the official safety patrol on this tour! You take care of all the monsters on this trail! Sounds fair, yes? Maybe then you can actually _earn_ your way in this tour group!"

"Isn't protecting people supposed to be _your _job?" Hanner protested.

"Whoever said anything like that?! Now quit complaining!!"

Mario reluctantly agreed, seeing as the three of them were the only ones suited for battling anyway. As they continued to journey up the mountain, he and his partners defeated all the other Mountain Spinies that attacked. Mario wanted to preserve his POW Blocks, though, so it usually fell to him and Hanner to use their hammers against the stone enemies. They also ran into Swoopers once in a while, and Goomblaine seemed to enjoy Headbonking them into submission.

As Clefford had said, the climb lasted for what felt like the better part of a whole day. Everyone in the group was getting exhausted, and they stopped only briefly to eat the lunches they had packed. Mario and his partners hadn't had that luxury, so they had to subsist on Mushrooms.

There was one good thing about the tour, though. Mario hit a conspicuous-looking Block they passed by, and was delighted to find that it held a Multibounce Badge.

"What I could _really _use right now is Spike Shield," he decided as he equipped it. "But this'll still make things easier."

After they'd continued on for a while longer, Mario was broken out of his bored and tired daze as he saw Morris was handing out lanterns to everyone in the group.

"What are these for?" he asked as he got his. It never exactly got dark around here, after all.

"It's a safety precaution. We're required to give them out in case of a rockslide. We might get caved in."

"A rockslide?" Hanner asked nervously.

"There've been recent reports of them. Which is strange, because they almost never happened before."

"Maybe it's the Abominable Snowman, exacting his horrible vengeance!" cried the purple man.

Clefford glared at him. "Would you cease and desist with that foolishness already! Honestly! This so-called Abominable Snowman is no more real than the Tooth Fairy!"

"The Tooth Fairy's not real?" cried a fully grown, deep-voiced Craw.

Clefford grumbled to himself, shaking his head. "Listen, all of you," he said. "There is nothing to be concerned about on this tour! There will be no monsters, and _especially _no rockslides!!"

The minute he finished speaking, the ground began to shake.

"I hate you," Goomblaine said to Clefford.

The shaking intensified, and Mario and everyone else looked up and gasped in horror.

A group of enormous boulders was rolling, tumbling, and bouncing down the mountain at breakneck speed, heading directly for them.

"HOLY COW!!" Hanner screamed.

"EMERGENCY!!" Morris bellowed, instantly taking charge as everyone else flew into a panic. "THIS IS NOT A DRILL!! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!! EVERYONE RUN THIS WAY DOWN THE PATH AS FAST AS YOU CAN!! NOW NOW NOW!!"

"NO REFUNDS!!!" Clefford added as he scrambled to get away.

Everyone screamed and attempted to run to safety, but they were too late. All at once, the boulders reached the ledge directly above them and flew off, crashing down all around them and scattering the group.

"GOOMBLAINE!! HANNER!!" Mario shouted, frantically trying to find them, but he couldn't even hear himself over the crashing of the boulders and the screams of the others. Everyone was taking off without him, but he couldn't go anywhere without his partners!

"Mario!" came a cry. He whipped around in time to see Goomblaine and Hanner pinned against the wall as the rocks fell around them. Now there was a shower of pebbles streaming down as well, and tripping over those would be _very _dangerous.

"Guys! Over here!" Mario alerted them, but suddenly realized that the boulders were falling too violently for them to be able to escape down the path now. The rest of the tour group had vanished.

Not knowing what else to do, he darted over to them and pressed himself up against the wall as well, but that would only keep them safe for so long…

And then he saw it.

There was a cave a few yards up the path. Its mouth was barely bigger and taller than he was, but they could still fit through it.

"This way, you two!" he shouted, grabbing Hanner by the wrist and pulling her along. They ducked and dodged as the rocks kept falling, more violently than ever now, threatening to completely crush them.

They were almost there – they had to make it –

"In here!!" He shoved both his partners into the cave, then threw himself in at the last possible instant.

There was one more loud _crash_, and then everything was still… and dark.

––

For a long moment, Mario sat panting in the sudden pitch black, too terrified to move. His lantern provided hardly any illumination at all; he could barely see a few feet in front of his face. He had no idea where his partners were.

"Guys?" he called hoarsely. "Goomblaine? Hanner? Are you guys all right?"

A pair of affirmative grumbles came from somewhere else in the darkness. Mario saw two more lights coming from a ways away, and finally Goomblaine and Hanner came trudging up to him, each holding up their lantern.

"Okay, _what _just happened?!" Goomblaine demanded. "We nearly got flattened!"

"I'm not sure exactly what happened. All I know is, that was most definitely a rockslide," said Mario. "Now listen, you two. It's _extremely _important that we don't panic, all right?"

"Who said anything about panicking?" Goomblaine asked irritably.

Holding his lantern up high, Mario walked toward what he thought was the mouth of the cave, with Goomblaine and Hanner trailing after him.

"Why's it so dark in here?" Hanner wondered, sounding nervous.

Mario had suddenly come to a stop. "That's why," he said grimly.

His lantern was illuminating the mouth of the cave – or at least, what used to be the mouth. It was now completely covered up by a fallen boulder. There was no way out.

Hanner's eyes bulged. "We're – we're trapped in here?!" she cried. "We're stuck here for the rest of our lives?!"

"Hanner, what did I say about not panicking?"

"We're gonna run out of food! We'll starve to death!!" she shrieked, clutching at her head. "No, no – we're gonna run out of _air _first! We'll suffocate!! We're gonna die slowly and painfully and no one will ever know what became of us!!"

"Hanner – "

"OH MY GOSH!! WE'RE GONNA DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!!!" Hanner was running frantically back and forth. "I'M TOO YOUNG TO GET A GAME OVER!!!"

"WOULD YOU SHUT UP?!?" Goomblaine bellowed at her.

"Guys, _please!!_" Mario snapped, and that was enough to silence them both.

"Now look," he said. "As long as we all _promise _to remain calm, we'll find a way out of this. I think we should explore the back of the cave and see if there's any other way out of here."

Goomblaine and Hanner both nodded.

"Okay. Now let's go."

All three of them slowly set off into the cave, holding up their lanterns and exploring every nook and cranny they could find. It was much bigger in here than it had looked on the outside. Eventually, as the cave grew wider, they split up and went in different directions, with Hanner going straight down the middle.

Mario treaded cautiously along, warily watching the light in his lantern as it flickered. He had to keep it burning. If all three of their lights went out, they were done for – there was no getting around that.

Not that having them lit was getting them anywhere. Mario cast his light all over, and all he could see were walls and ceiling. There wasn't an exit anywhere in sight –

"Oh my gosh – MARIO! GOOMBLAINE! GET OVER HERE!!"

Mario was so startled he nearly dropped his lantern. "Hanner?!"

"Come over here quick!!" came Hanner's voice from several yards away. "I found something – no, some_one!_"

Mario hurried over in the direction of her voice, and he saw Goomblaine doing the same. They stopped next to Hanner, who was holding up her lantern and pointing at something a few feet in front of her.

"There's a little kid in here!" she cried in alarm. "A little Clubba kid!"

Mario instantly felt a twinge of unease. "What? A Clubba?"

Hanner raced up to the prone form she had been pointing at. It was nearly impossible to see in the dim light, but as he looked, Mario realized there was indeed a little Clubba lying curled up on the ground.

He was very obviously young. He was only half the size of most members of his species, and his club, which he was gripping onto for dear life, was accordingly miniaturized as well. Furthermore, whereas most Clubbas had a mane full of bushy white hair, this one had only three little hairs sticking out of the top of his head.

He was gazing up at them, trembling in fear.

"I can't believe there was somebody else in here," Hanner said softly. She put her lantern on the ground and crouched down next to the Clubba. "Are you okay? Oh my gosh, you poor little baby."

For a minute, he didn't look like he was going to answer. Mario began to wonder if fear had made him mute. After a moment, though, he slowly lifted his head and looked up at Hanner.

"I'm not a baby," he said, sounding peeved. "I'm _six!_"

Hanner blinked. "Oh… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

Still not wanting to leave him alone, she scooted over and patted him on the head. "What's your name, little guy?"

He only frowned slightly in response.

Hanner looked confused. "What's wrong?"

The little Clubba fiddled with his miniature weapon. "…My mom an' dad said I'm not supposed to say my name to strangers," he said reluctantly.

"…Oh. Okay," said Hanner, not really sure how else to react.

He seemed to be reconsidering, though. Who knew how long he'd been all alone like this. He just had to open up to somebody, and Hanner, at least, seemed nice enough.

"…I'm Stubba," he finally said.

Hanner broke into a grin. "Stubba! What a cute name!" she squealed. She grabbed him and attempted to start tickling him, but he began squirming violently in protest, forcing her to let him go.

"Do you know where my mom an' dad are?" he asked urgently.

Hanner looked surprised. "You mean, you don't know?"

"Wait a minute. What are you doin' in here all by yourself, kid?" asked Goomblaine. He sounded not very sympathetic, but still much more patient than he was around Mario and Hanner.

Stubba looked between all three of them with tears in his eyes. "I was with my mom an' dad," he said helplessly. "We were just going on a walk! I promise! But then there were all these rocks that fell down the mountain!"

"Another rockslide?" Mario pondered. "I thought those didn't happen often."

"I dunno where my parents are!" Stubba cried. He was actively sobbing by now. "We got separated when all the rocks came falling down! I ran away and I found this cave, but I couldn't find my mom or my dad! I dunno where they went!!"

Hanner looked horrified. "Oh, no… you poor thing," she said. She pulled him into a hug, and this time he didn't protest.

After a moment, she looked up at the plumber. "Mario, we're gonna keep him with us, aren't we? We can't just leave him here all by himself!"

"_That _snot-nosed kid? Are you jokin'?" said Goomblaine.

Hanner glared at him. "Goomblaine! For Pete's sake, show a little sympathy! This kid needs somebody to look after him until we can find his parents."

She turned to Mario again. "Isn't that right, Mario?"

"I… well…"

Mario was finding himself at a strange loss for words. If Stubba had been any other species, he would have said yes, but…

He didn't _like _Clubbas. He didn't trust them. His past experiences with them had ruined any chance of that ever happening.

Hanner seemed to sense something wasn't right. "Mario… what's the matter?"

"Oh, nothing," he managed to force out. "Yeah, we can keep him, of course."

As he said it, he felt his stomach start to clench.

Hanner nodded approvingly and turned back to Stubba. "You can stay with us for now, okay, Stubba?" she said. "We'll help you find your mom and dad. I promise."

Stubba looked up at her. "You promise?" he said weakly. "Well… okay."

Hanner smiled. She pulled Stubba to his feet and led him over to Mario and Goomblaine.

_**Stubba Joined Mario's Party!**_

_Stubba is a little Clubba baby who's very innocent and doesn't like fighting. Nonetheless, he wants desperately to be useful to Mario and is loyal and dependable despite being so young. He can use his club to destroy cracked walls and surfaces, or any other obstructions blocking Mario's way. In battle, he can repeatedly whack a ground enemy with his Club attack, or use Spike Guard to prevent foes from jumping on him or Mario._

"Well, terrific," Goomblaine sighed. "In case you guys forgot, though, we're still _stuck _in here."

"Hmm…" Hanner looked thoughtful for a moment. "I wonder, maybe we can bust out of here now?"

Goomblaine stared at her. "_How?_"

"Maybe our new friend can help us," the Hammer Sis suggested. Holding onto Stubba's hand, she led him up to the mouth of the cave where the boulder was. Surprised, Mario and Goomblaine followed after them.

"Okay, Stubba," she said, "do you think you can use your club to break this big rock?"

Stubba stared up at it. "I dunno…"

"Please try," Hanner said encouragingly. "We don't know if we can get out of this cave any other way. If you can break it, you'll be our hero."

Mario had to admit, he was really impressed with Hanner. She knew just how to talk to the little Clubba.

At the same time, though, he felt guilty. _He _should have been the one looking after Stubba, not Hanner… but he could barely bring himself near the guy.

Stubba looked up at the rock for a little while longer, looking nervous. Finally, though, he nodded to Hanner.

"Okay… I can try."

He stepped forward, gripping his club uneasily. Mario watched doubtfully; he didn't really think someone as little as Stubba could break a rock that big –

And then Stubba bashed the boulder with all his might, and an enormous crack appeared in it.

"Woah!" Hanner gawked. "Do that again, Stubba!"

He nodded and whacked the boulder again and again, until finally, it burst into gravel and crumbled apart. Light instantly poured into the cave.

"YEAH!!" Hanner cheered, racing out of the cave into the sunlight. Mario, Goomblaine and Stubba followed after her, and she picked up the little Clubba and swung him around.

"You did it, Stubba! That was _amazing!_" she gushed. "You are one strong little guy!"

Despite himself, Stubba was actually giggling at the attention. "All Clubbas can do that!" he insisted.

"Well, I'm glad," said Hanner as she put him down, "or else we'd have been stuck in that cave forever!"

Mario wasn't paying attention to them. He was looking up and down the path, but just as he had feared, there was no sign of Clefford or the rest of the tour group anywhere.

"Guess he was telling the truth," he muttered. "If you fall behind, you get left behind."

Hanner realized what he was talking about and frowned. "Aw, man… how are we supposed to get all the way to the top now?"

"Are you guys lost?" Stubba asked in concern.

"Yeah, we kind of are. We have to go all the way up the mountain, but we don't know how to get there."

"Oh! Oh!" Stubba started jumping up and down in excitement. "Maybe we can ask my nana! She's really smart. I bet she knows how to get up there!"

"What happened to looking for your parents?" asked Goomblaine.

"We can look for his parents at the same time," Hanner replied, and Stubba looked extremely hopeful. "I'm sure there somewhere on this trail. They can't have gone too far away."

"Oh, you really think so, Hanner?" asked the little Clubba.

"You bet. We'll find them in no time," she said cheerfully. "But can you show us the way to your village, Stubba? You're from Pebblegem, right?"

He eagerly agreed, and so they followed after him as he marched up the mountain trail.

––

"Man, how long have we been walking?" Goomblaine griped after some time. "I'm _exhausted._"

"Stop complaining, Goomblaine," said Hanner. "I'm sure it's not much farther." She hated to admit it, but she was getting extremely tired as well.

"I think we'd better stop for a while," Mario decided.

"No way! We gotta catch up with the tour group," Hanner insisted. "Besides, Stubba's doing fine, isn't that right?"

When she got no reply, she looked down and realized that Stubba was sleepwalking.

"Uh… okay, maybe we should stop."

They looked around until they found another little cave in the mountainside, and after making doubly sure there would be no additional rockslides, they went in.

"Are we there yet?" Stubba asked sleepily.

"No, Stubba, we're stopping for a while," Hanner told him. "We're gonna take a little break and then we'll go the rest of the way, okay?"

Stubba was too tired to do anything but nod in response.

"Don't wake me up unless it's important," Goomblaine grumbled, sliding against the wall.

Mario sat himself down a little ways away from the others, letting out a sigh. He'd been walking so long his legs were going numb, and it was a relief to finally get to sit down for a while.

Absentmindedly, he watched as Hanner sat down next to Stubba, putting her arm around him until the little Clubba had nodded off.

As Hanner saw him looking at her, though, she frowned.

"Hey, Mario," she said, gently putting Stubba down and walking over to him. "You've been acting really weird lately. What's the problem?"

Mario cursed at himself inwardly. "Problem?"

"Yeah! You've been acting really cold around Stubba," she accused him. "What's the deal? I thought you were a really nice guy, but you've been treating him like he's carrying the plague or something! You won't even go near him!"

Mario frowned. He'd been found out. There was no point in hiding it anymore.

"I'm sorry, Hanner," he sighed. "It's just… I've had a lot of bad experiences with Clubbas in the past."

Hanner blinked. "Bad experiences?"

"Yeah… you had to be there, really."

How was he supposed to explain this? Twice now he'd had an encounter with a monstrous Clubba that could easily have been fatal. The first one had been _invincible_, which was bad enough – but what he'd _done _to himself to achieve that status was so horrifying it still gave Mario nightmares even now. And the second one had seemed friendly at first, even an ally of sorts – before he turned out to be a deceptive, two-faced monster responsible for nearly killing more than a few people.

Since then, he could barely even stand to be around Clubbas. There were just too many bad memories.

"Well, guess what, Mario," Hanner said with a disapproving look. "Stubba told me that his whole _village _is full of Clubbas. So you're going to have to deal with them, whether you like it or not. I'd suggest you get rid of your prejudices right now."

Mario guiltily lowered his gaze to the ground. Hanner was right, of course. He felt completely terrible. There was no reason for him to act like this.

"Well, see you in a little, I guess," she muttered, and turned and walked back.

Mario sighed and turned away from her, but he couldn't bring himself to fall asleep. He kept staring up at the ceiling of the cave and trying to calm his mind, but his thoughts were racing and his guilt wasn't letting go.

He looked over at the others. Goomblaine was snoozing off by himself, and Stubba was cuddled up against Hanner.

Mario looked long and hard at the little Clubba. He tried to convince himself that he was being an idiot, that Stubba was just an innocent little kid and there was nothing to worry about…

But he couldn't get the voices out of his head.

"_What's this? Did someone tell you my secret? That the 'invincible' Tubba Blubba outside is just a shell, and I've been controlling it all this time? …That's it!! I'll never let you out of here knowing my secret!!"_

"_Whaddaya think, Gonzales? I've been using this here power-suckin' machine to drain all them other fighters dry! With all that energy, I'll stay young an' buff _forever!!_"_

Mario groaned and covered his face in his hands.

"What's wrong with me?" he lamented.

_Oh, come on Mario. There's nothing _wrong _with you._

Mario's eyes widened. All of a sudden, those other voices had gone away – and he couldn't have been happier to hear the one that had replaced them. It was young, female, and bubbling with personality.

_Heck, I remember Tubba Blubba too, and he freaked me out! But, this guy's nothing like that. He's a little sweetie!_

"I know, I know," Mario sighed. "And I know it's not fair to him for me to be acting like this. It's just… old habits die hard, I guess."

_That's not the right attitude at all, _said the other voice Mario had been expecting, this one much older and male. _I rather think that boy is going to be very important to your little quest, don't you?_

Mario smiled slightly. "He's a little different from you two, you know."

_You just mean he doesn't have our _explosive _personality, _the first voice giggled. _Aw, that doesn't matter. I bet he helps you all the same._

_Of course she's right, _agreed the second voice. _It might be hard for you, Mario, but you should never let the past control the way you live in the present. Take it from me._

"Yeah… you guys know best, don't you?"

The voices didn't say anything after that, but that was really all Mario needed to hear. He yawned and stretched, and within a few minutes he had fallen asleep, feeling much better than he had before.

**––––**

**A/N: **I hope Stubba came off as cute rather than annoying. You're supposed to like the little guy.

Unfortunately, school has now started (it does that sometimes), meaning I'm back to being without a reliable update schedule. But I think you know I wouldn't drop this.


	12. Chapter 2, Part II

_**Mt. Tourmaline**_

_**8:48 am**_

Mario ended up finding out what a "wandering star" was much sooner than he had expected.

Stubba had promised them that they were nearly at his village, and the group was very much looking forward to finding civilization once again. As they hiked along, Mario was trying to forget about all the Clubbas that would be there; he had to convince himself that he was being stupid about all of this, and besides, they were all probably as nice as his new partner.

But he forgot all about that when he suddenly noticed a strange sparkling out of the corner of his eye.

"Woah. You see that, Mario?" asked Hanner, clearly noticing it as well.

Hovering in the air off to the side of the trail was a small cluster of sparkles of light. They would twinkle and flash for a moment before vanishing, and others would take their place. They didn't seem to have any source, though.

"Ooh, that's pretty!" said Stubba, walking up to it.

Mario glanced at him. "Uh… you don't know what that is, do you, Stubba?"

"Uh uh," the little Clubba replied with a shake of his head, never once taking his eyes off the sparkles.

Mario stared very intently at them. The more he looked, the more certain he was that something was causing those sparkles… and that something was right in front of him. But why couldn't he see anything?

Suddenly, he got an idea. "Hmm… I wonder…"

Remembering an old trick he had used in previous adventures, Mario turned himself sideways, becoming thin as a sheet of paper. More importantly, though, he was now able to see anyone else who was standing in a similar position. He remembered that some little stars liked to hide this way…

And sure enough, he saw it.

Floating in front of him, emitting the glimmer of sparkles, was a bright yellow star – but not just any kind. It was very round and pudgy, had big black eyes, and its top point ended in a small curl.

"Oh me, oh my…" it sighed, looking frightened. "You found me, didn't you?"

"Holy – " Mario was stunned. "You're a Luma! …A paper Luma?"

"That's right! That's right!" the star declared, bobbing frantically up and down. "But oh, I'm in trouble, you see… I fell all the way down from the sky, and I can't get back up again! Will you help me, please?"

"Well, I… I would, but I don't know how to get you back up either."

"Oh, oh! That's easy!" said the Luma. "Just bring me to a Star Pedestal! If you do, I can find my way from there, I'm sure! And I will thank you dearly for it!"

Naturally, Goomblaine, Hanner and Stubba were all very confused at this point.

"Am I the only one hearin' voices?" Goomblaine demanded.

"How did Mario turn invisible?" Stubba wondered.

Mario quickly grabbed the Luma and flipped back to normal so his friends could see him once again.

"Sorry about that, you guys," he said quickly. "Um, Stubba, does your village have a Star Pedestal in it?"

"Well, yeah!"

Mario grinned. "Perfect."

_**––**_

_**Pebblegem Village**_

_**9:00 am**_

"Woah… Mario, look at this place!"

"I'm looking, Hanner."

Following the path had eventually led the group through a narrow canyon between two tall stretches of rock… that had opened up into a large valley right in the middle of the mountain.

The grass was green and lush, and there were even a few pine trees growing here and there. Most of the houses in the village were simple, two-story cottages. There were towering cliff faces surrounding the place protectively on all sides, and coming from inside one of them was a waterfall that cascaded down into a little pond on the far side of the village. It was like something right out of a storybook.

"You _live _here, Stubba?" Hanner marveled.

"Yeah! You like it?"

"It's so pretty here!" the Hammer Sis laughed, twirling around. Goomblaine rolled his eyes.

Mario was quick to notice that there were indeed many Clubbas wandering around here, and fully grown ones at that. He swallowed hard, trying to ignore them. There were several other species living here as well, including Clefts (the variety with spikes, unlike Clefford), and even a few friendly Swoopers.

Then he noticed something else. Right near the entrance to the village was a white marble Star Pedestal, identical to the one in Soluna Town.

"Okay, little guy, here we are," he said the Luma he was still holding in his hands. He walked over to it, and the little star suddenly became so excited that it leapt out of his grip and began hovering on top of the pedestal.

"Oh, joy of joys!" it laughed. "This Star Pedestal will light my way home, kind sir! I can't thank you enough! How may I repay you?"

"Oh, you really don't have to – "

"Oh, oh, I know!" it realized. "As thanks for your kindness, I will power up one of your friends before I go!"

"Power up my – ohhhhhh. Is that what this is about?"

"What's that mean? You're gonna make one of us stronger?" Goomblaine asked skeptically.

"OOH! OOH! PICK ME!!" Hanner and Stubba both shouted frantically, waving their arms.

"Guys!" said Mario. "Now look. Goomblaine's been with me the longest, so it's only fair that he gets this one."

"Aww…" Stubba sighed, kicking the ground. Goomblaine, on the other hand, looked completely indifferent as he walked up to the Star Pedestal. The Luma began twirling around, emitting an entire shower of sparkles that floated over the Goomba and surrounded him. He started glowing briefly, and there was a flash before everything returned to normal.

_Goomblaine was upgraded to Super Rank! He can now use Multibonk to repeatedly jump on an enemy!_

"That's so neat…" Hanner groaned jealously.

"You must listen to me, kind sir!" the Luma addressed Mario once again. "I've heard of many other friends of mine who have also fallen to earth and are unable to go home. If you can help them the way you helped me, I'm sure they would give more power to your other friends as well!"

Hanner immediately perked up. "Really? Awesome!!"

"Thank you again, sir… and farewell!" laughed the Luma. Suddenly, a faint beam of light came down from the sky and illuminated the pedestal. The Luma began to rise up in the light, finally shooting off into the sky and vanishing, leaving a trail of sparkles behind.

––

"Hello?" Mario called, knocking on the door of Stubba's house. "Anybody home? We have Stubba here with us!"

"Mommy? Daddy?" Stubba shouted hopefully.

Momentarily, they heard the sound of footsteps coming from inside, and then the door pulled open – but the wizened White Clubba standing in the doorway looked much too old to be Stubba's mother.

"Whazzat?" she croaked out. "Stubba? Is that you?"

"Oh, hi, Nana!" said Stubba, walking eagerly up to her.

"Oh, you're his nana, huh?" asked Mario. She didn't frighten him quite so much; she didn't look capable of doing much damage.

"That's right. I'm his babysitter while his parents are away," she replied, eyeing the plumber suspiciously. "And who are _you?_"

"My name's Mario, and this is Goomblaine and Hanner. We found Stubba further down the mountain. He kinda got lost."

"Are Mommy and Daddy here, Nana?" Stubba asked her, gazing up at her. "I couldn't find them."

The old Clubba stared down at Stubba as though he were crazy. "You mean you lost them?" she said incredulously. "But weren't they with you when you went off on that walk? They certainly haven't come back here yet."

Stubba's face fell.

"Y'mean they're still lost?" he asked hopelessly.

He sat down on his doorstep, his eyes brimming with tears again. "But I dunno where they are!" he cried. "What if they got hurt? I'm so scared, Nana!"

Mario frowned in sympathy, and so did Hanner. Goomblaine, however, had just turned away and was now glaring off into the distance, like he couldn't stand to watch the scene anymore. Mario didn't fail to notice.

"Oh, Stubba," Nana sighed, picking up the little crying Clubba. "You'd better come inside and tell me the whole story."

"Is it okay if we come in too?" Hanner asked awkwardly. "We've been walking a long time."

"Oh, yes, yes. You did find him, I suppose. Just wait in the kitchen. He and I have to talk."

All five of them filed into the little house. Nana led Stubba into the living room while Mario, Goomblaine and Hanner obediently went into the kitchen and sat down at the table. They could hear Stubba begin to talk to Nana in choked sobs.

"Poor little guy," Hanner sighed.

"Where could his parents be, though?" Mario wondered. "It's like they just disappeared or something."

Stubba and Nana ended up talking for a long time, and not just about his missing parents. Their conversation ended up covering all sorts of topics, including the mysterious rockslides that had been striking the mountain and other strange goings-on that people had begun to notice. Before long, Mario was starting to get bored, while Goomblaine and Hanner took it upon themselves to peer inconspicuously into the living room and listen in on the conversation.

After a while, they heard something from Stubba that greatly surprised them both. Their eyes grew wide.

––

Mario had left the house and was now pacing back and forth outside, wondering what to do next. He wanted to help Stubba, but at the same time, they had to get to the top of the mountain as quickly as they could. And even if they managed that, they still had a Guardian to find. Mario had no idea who that could be…

Eventually, he decided the best thing to do while he was waiting would be to explore the village a little more. He'd noticed that this place didn't have a Hotel anywhere, but it did have a Tavern that seemed to double as an inn. As he walked over to it, he could hear some lively voices coming from inside.

He thought they sounded a little familiar…

He pulled the door open, and his jaw dropped.

Sitting around the circular tables, downing several mugs of something brown and frothy, were Clefford and the rest of the tour group.

"THIS IS THE BEST TOUR I'VE EVER BEEN ON!!" laughed a Little Mouser in a very loud voice.

"Hey, look, everybody! It's Mr. Mustache Man!" slurred a Koopa, noticing Mario standing in the doorway.

"Wow… I actually found you guys! What a lucky break!" the plumber remarked, although he was suddenly embarrassed to be seeing them in their condition.

"Urgh… sir, would you please get these friends of yours to leave? They're running up quite a tab," the Clubba bartender impatiently asked Mario.

"Sorry about that," he sighed in response, walking over to Clefford's table. The Bald Cleft was slumped over in a daze, and Morris was sitting next to him, looking more humiliated than ever. He hadn't had anything to drink.

"Hey, Clefford. It's me."

"WHAT?!? STEAL MY PONIES, WILL YOU?!?" Clefford suddenly bellowed, jerking upright. Then he seemed to recognize Mario, and his vision cleared slightly.

"Oh… it's you! Mr. Annoying Freeloader! So you didn't die after all, eh? That's a shame."

Mario frowned. "What's _that _supposed to mean?!"

"Oh, don't take offense! It just means that I have to tell you the bad news after all. Well, bad news for you, anyway. Good news for me! HA HA HA!!"

"What news?" Mario asked, growing increasingly frustrated.

"As I'm sure you know, you poor penniless man, I only allowed you to join this tour so you could show us the location of the glorious shining egg thing!"

"Right…"

"But now I realize – I already know where it is!" the Cleft laughed in triumph. "You already told me! It's at the very top of the mountain! I can find that thing all by myself! HA HA HA HA HA!!"

Mario was stricken by this revelation. "So you're saying – "

"I'M SAYING YOU'RE OUT OF THE TOUR GROUP, YOU FOOL!!! You _and _that ridiculous oversized 'stache!" Clefford bellowed. "So you thought you could get a free ride out of Clefford, did you? Not likely! I have you and your cheating ways all figured out! I'm a genius!!"

"If you were a genius, wouldn't you have figured all this out before we even left Soluna Town?" Morris sighed.

"STAY OUT OF THINGS YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, MORRIS!!!"

"Yes, sir…"

"But – but you don't understand!" Mario cried desperately, though he was aware of how futile it was. "We have to get to the top of the mountain! We _need _to get that Sun Soul!"

Clefford glared at him. "What's this? _You're _looking for that thing?"

Mario's blood ran cold. He'd just made a huge mistake.

"Oh, crud…"

_"YOU ARE A SWARMING NEST OF LIES!!!"_ Clefford bellowed, hopping furiously up and down in his chair.

_"Sir! _Don't do that! This furniture is expensive!!" the bartender shouted at him.

"You promised that shiny egg to _me_, you duplicitous deceiver you!" Clefford furiously accused Mario. "And now I hear that all along, your intention was to take it for yourself? How reprehensible! I've never heard of someone so greedy!"

"Uh huh. I'm sure you haven't."

"Well, I will have none of this nonsense! Not only are you off the tour, my good man, but I will exact every effort to make sure you don't get to the top! You'll never get your grubby hands on my property!!"

Morris watched in horror as Clefford suddenly smashed an empty bottle and brandished it at Mario.

"THIS MEANS WAR!!!"

"GEEZ!!" Mario cried, racing out of the Tavern as fast as his legs would carry him. He slammed the door behind him and leaned against it, trying to calm down. Thankfully, Clefford didn't bother following him out.

"Okay. Well… this complicates things," he said to himself.

––

Not knowing what else to do, he finally resigned himself to walking back over to Stubba's house. He had to tell his partners about this anyway. He could just imagined how thrilled Goomblaine would be when he heard how Mario had managed to mess things up.

As he walked up to the door, it suddenly opened and Goomblaine and Hanner came out, looking shaken up by something.

"Where were you, Mario?" asked Hanner.

"Uh…"

Goomblaine looked at him suspiciously. "You look freaked, Fat Man. What's your problem?"

Mario gazed guiltily at the ground, not wanting to look them in the eye. Well, it was now or never.

"Well, guys… the rest of the tour group is over at the Tavern."

Hanner brightened up. "Really? That's great!"

"No, it really isn't. Clefford kicked us out of the group, and he says he's going to stop us from getting to the top of the mountain."

Hanner's smile instantly fell. "Why would he do _that?"_ she asked in confusion.

"Well, I may have kind of… maybe… toldhimwewereaftertheSunSoul."

Dead silence.

"Of course," Goomblaine groaned. "Of course I get stuck on this ridiculous thing with the _biggest idiot who ever lived_. Well, _now _what do we do?!?"

"I don't know," Mario sighed. "But somehow, we're going to have to figure out a way to get up there with just the three of us."

Hanner stared at him. "Three of us? Don't you mean four?"

"Well, we can't let Stubba come with us. It's too dangerous for him, and anyway, his nana would never let him."

His two partners glanced at each other.

"Mario," Hanner said unsurely, "I think we might need Stubba more than you realize."

Mario looked at them both in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Goomblaine and I were just listening to him – "

"It was her idea," Goomblaine cut in sharply, sounding like he wanted no part in this.

"Yeah, well, anyway… remember how we had to find the second Guardian, Mario?"

"Of course. That's another thing we still have to take care of."

Hanner shook her head slowly. "No, Mario… I don't think so. I think we've found him already."

Mario looked at her dumbly for a moment… and then he realized what she meant.

"You guys think it's _Stubba?_" he said incredulously. "But he's just a little kid!"

"But don't you remember, Mario? Only the Guardians are supposed to be able to remember what Day and Night used to be like."

"And have you _heard _the guy?" Goomblaine growled.

Completely dumbfounded, Mario let his other two partners lead him back inside. All three of them peered into the living room.

"But Nana, I _mean _it!" Stubba was saying stubbornly. "How come you don't remember? It used to get dark out and there was nighttime every day! But it doesn't happen anymore, and I dunno why!"

"Stubba, stop playing around," Nana scolded him. "There's no such thing as 'Night'. This is no time for one of your games. We have to focus on finding your parents."

"Nana! I swear I'm telling the truth!" Stubba cried, starting to sound genuinely scared.

Mario stared in disbelief.

Nana just then looked up and seemed to notice them. "Eh? What're you all still doing here?" she demanded. "Look, I'm glad you found Stubba and all, but I think you'd all better be on your way now."

"Oh… of course…" Mario said unsurely, still shaken by this revelation. If Stubba really was a Guardian, they had no choice but to bring him along, no matter how young he was. Even if he was a Clubba.

"Can we say goodbye to him first?" Hanner asked, obviously thinking the same thing. Good old Hanner. He didn't know what he'd do without her.

"Oh, I suppose," Nana sighed, and Stubba climbed off her lap and walked over to them.

"Stubba, come out here for a sec," Mario said quietly, opening the front door and leading them all back outside. There was one way to know for sure if Stubba was the person they were looking for, and he didn't want Nana to see him do it.

"Stubba, I heard you talking to your nana," he said once he'd closed the door. "You were talking about Day and Night, right? And how it's never night here anymore?"

Stubba stared up at him. "Yeah!!" he said excitedly. "But she doesn't even believe me! She thinks I'm lying, but I'm not! It really used to be night out! Mario, do _you_ believe me?"

Mario nodded. "Yes, I do. We all believe you."

"We remember Night too," Hanner told him with a wink.

Stubba started looking hopeful for the first time. "You do? Really?" Then, after a moment, he started looking confused. "Then do you know how come it's never night anymore?"

"As a matter of fact, we do," Mario replied, slowly pulling out the Aeon Hourglass. "Stubba, I want you to stay right there and don't move, okay?"

Stubba nodded, stiffening his muscles. Mario turned the hourglass over, and as the sand fell, the ensuing flash enveloped all four of them.

_**––**_

_**Pebblegem Village**_

_**9:00 pm**_

As the light faded, Mario saw that Pebblegem Village was now cloaked in darkness. Looking up, he saw the sky was now pitch black, and the bright stars could clearly be seen.

And all his partners were still there. Including Stubba.

"_Woah!!_" he cried, whipping his head around in shock. "How'd you _do _that, Mario?!"

"This hourglass. It's magic," Mario replied simply, holding it out. He didn't think he wanted to tell Stubba the whole story yet.

"That's so _cool!!_" the little Clubba laughed. He began scampering around the village, looking thrilled as he explored. "I told you I was telling the truth! I knew it! I knew it!"

Mario shook his head slowly as he, Goomblaine and Hanner watched him. This was irrefutable proof.

There was only one Stubba, all right… and he could travel between Day and Night just like the rest of them…

Suddenly, there came a loud shattering noise from down the path that burst through the Nighttime silence. Mario whipped around to see it had come from the Tavern. Someone had just been thrown through the window and was now lying on the ground, surrounded by broken glass.

"AND STAY OUT!!!" came the bartender's voice from inside.

"What the – oh no," Mario groaned. He had dashed over to the Tavern to see who it was, but as he did, he slowed to a stop.

"You've gotta be kidding me," he sighed as Goomblaine, Hanner, and finally Stubba came up behind him. "Clefford's here in Nightside too?!"

"I guess the tour schedule is the same in both places," Hanner decided.

"YOU RIDICULOUS EXCUSE FOR A PROPRIETOR, YOU!!!" the enraged Cleft bellowed as he jumped back to his feet. "I WILL NOT BE TREATED IN THIS MANNER!! Besides, that chandelier couldn't possibly have been worth much anyway!"

"Clefford, what do you think you're doing?" Mario asked impatiently as he walked up to the inebriated tour guide. Clefford turned to look at him and narrowed his eyes.

"How do you know my name, suspicious type?" he demanded. "Although, somehow, you do seem familiar… do I know you?"

"…That's a complicated question."

"I was merely making a demonstration of my frustration in there!" Clefford explained. "I'm in the middle of a ridiculously lucrative tour of Mt. Tourmaline, you see, but it seems disastrous circumstances have struck… we can't go any farther! We have to go back!"

"Go _back? _Why?"

"You want to know _why? _It's because SOMETHING HAS EATEN OUR SUPPLIES!!!"

Mario blinked. "Something did _what?"_

He walked over and looked into the now-broken window. The Tavern looked the same as it had in Dayside, except there was now a roaring fire in the fireplace. Sure enough, all the same people in the tour group were seated around the tables… but nearly all of their supplies were missing. All that seemed to be left were a few peoples' backpacks, and their owners were holding them up in despair and examining the large bites that had been taken out of them.

"That fool of a bartender assured us our supplies would be safe here, but NOOOOOOO!!" Clefford raged. "And now we have no choice but to turn back! Do you have any idea how much this is going to cost me?! It's a complete outrage!! I'm so furious right now, I could just – "

He suddenly broke off and slumped over on the ground, sound asleep, and began to snore.

Stubba started giggling. "He's funny."

"Something tells me he's had a little too much to drink," Hanner observed.

"Well, this is actually a good thing for us," Mario decided. "Now we have a much better chance of getting that Sun Soul."

Goomblaine raised an eyebrow. "Care to explain that?"

"Well, think about it. The Nightside Clefford can't even go any further up the mountain now. Whereas the Dayside Clefford is not only going all the way to the top, he's actively trying to get in our way."

He folded his arms. "So, I would say it's the smartest and safest idea to go the rest of the way up the mountain in Nightside."

Hanner shrugged. "Sounds good."

"Whatever," said Goomblaine.

Stubba said nothing.

"Stubba?" said Mario, just then realizing the little Clubba was missing. "Oh, great – where'd he go?"

"He probably just went off exploring somewhere, Mario," Hanner reassured him as he started looking around. "It's not a big deal."

And then they heard Stubba scream.

Hanner jolted. "Stubba?!" she cried, racing off in the direction of the scream. Mario and Goomblaine quickly followed after her, Mario in particular starting to panic.

_What could have happened? There's nothing dangerous in this village, is there?_

Finally the three of them approached the waterfall at the far end of the village. There was Stubba, and he was standing in front of the waterfall, trembling and frozen in fear.

He was staring up at three very familiar-looking Putrid Piranhas.

**––––**

**A/N: **There will actually be ACTION in the next part, so don't go!


	13. Chapter 2, Part III

**A/N: **I'm currently participating in a college-wide trivia contest and am slightly jacked up on caffeine, so I thought I might as well post the next part of the story. :D Yep, my paper due tomorrow is clearly my third and last priority.

**_––––_**

**_Mt. Tourmaline_**

**_9:50 pm_**

Near the very top of the mountain, the air was cold and biting and the ground was covered in snow. There was no noise except for the whistling of the wind, and there was no movement at all.

Momentarily, though, the stillness was broken by three clouds of smoke billowing up from out of nowhere. Three dark creatures appeared and skittered over to each other.

"What's the news, you two?" Jaff hissed. "Has Mario been taken care of yet?"

"Uh, I'm afraid not," Pell said reluctantly. "My source says Mario's already reached Pebblegem Village, and so have all his friends."

Jaff clenched his fists in frustration. "_What?! _He's still alive? How many rockslides do we have to cause to stop him? This is preposterous!"

"What should we do?" Nobb asked dumbly.

"Keep trying, of course. He's not the only one who can warp between Day and Night at will. We'll have an edge on him… though at this point, it may be wise to have a backup plan."

"Backup plan? Like what?" Pell demanded.

In response, Jaff grew a sinister grin and pointed a clawed finger up toward the very summit of Mt. Tourmaline.

"If _we _can't stop Mario," he said, "maybe our friend up there will do it for us."

**_––_**

**_Pebblegem Village_**

**_9:00 pm_**

"Stubba! Get back over here!!" Hanner cried in alarm, and the little Clubba instantly obeyed, scrambling behind her and hiding.

"What the heck?! You three freaks again?" Goomblaine snarled at the Putrid Piranhas. "What are you doing up here?"

"HYUCK YUCK YUCK!" cackled the center one. "WE TOLD MARIO WE WOULD BE BACK! MARIO CAN'T BEAT US SO EASY!"

Not for the first time on this adventure, Mario was completely confused. Why on earth did these three Piranhas want him so badly that they came all the way up _here?_

"Why did you follow us all the way here?" he demanded.

"MAMA TOLD US TO!" replied the one on the right. "MAMA WANTS TO MEET MARIO THIS TIME!"

Mario furrowed his brow. "'Mama'? …Who's Mama?"

"That would be _me_," came a voice from high above their heads.

Mario and his partners all looked up. Suddenly, a shadowy figure that had been standing unseen on a high rocky ledge came leaping down. It bounced off the head of the center Piranha and landed gracefully in front of them. Mario stared.

He and the others now found themselves looking at a middle-aged Crazee Dayzee. Her petals were a dark purple color, and she had a large amount of makeup and long eyelashes over her perpetually droopy eyes. She seemed to have a beauty mark on the side of her face.

"So, Mario," she said smugly, unaffected by the baffled looks she was getting from the foursome. "I've been watching you for some time now. Consider it your honor to make my acquaintance."

"Wait a sec – you're the one controlling those Putrid Piranhas?" Mario demanded. "So you sent them after us in Fleet Forest? Just who _are _you, anyway?!"

"Who am I?" she repeated. "Well, I suppose you deserve to know the name of the person who's going to defeat you."

She gestured at the Piranhas groveling behind her. "My pets call me Mama. My friends call me Maizee. You may call me _Miss _Maizee."

Goomblaine snorted. "Like you've got any friends."

"Mario, I've heard that you are on a mission to recover the Sun Souls," Maizee went on. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that any longer."

"Ex-_cuse _me?!" Hanner cried, sounding as shocked as Mario felt. "How do you know about the Sun Souls? Are you working for King Shroude too?!"

Maizee narrowed her eyes at Hanner. "_Who? _I don't even know who that is, you silly girl. I work for no one but myself." She folded her arms. "I need the Sun Souls for my own personal use. How I found out about them is really none of your business."

Mario glowered at her, unconsciously tightening the grip on his hammer. "If you _really _knew about the Sun Souls," he accused her, "you'd know they belong with the Guardians. You can't just hoard them to yourself. Who do you think you are?"

"That's quite enough out of you," Maizee snapped, clearly through with this conversation. "Mario, you may have found my pets easy to defeat last time, but _this _time I think you'll be in for quite a challenge."

"Oh, sure, sick your little pets on us!" Goomblaine snarled at her. "What are you, scared of getting your hands dirty? Why don't you fight us yourself?!"

"Why on earth would I waste my time fighting you _myself_, when these fellows will deal with you in record speed?" Maizee stepped backward to face her pets. "Now, you three. Take care of Mario and his friends. And make sure you _win _this time."

Without any further warning, the Piranhas dived underground and resurfaced directly in front of Mario and the others, and the fight was on.

"Not this again," Mario groaned as he immediately used a Power Smash on the Piranha in front of him. It didn't look too fazed, though, and Mario was caught off guard when it took a ferocious chomp out of him.

"Yeowch!" he cried, stumbling backwards. "I don't remember them being so tough…"

Hanner was having a similar problem. She was hurling hammers with all her might, but the Piranha taking the blows was shaking them off like they were nothing. It spat an enormous glob of toxic sludge at her, and she screamed and just barely ducked out of the way in time.

"Is it just me, or are these things stronger than before?" she fretted.

"Oh yes, and their poison is much more potent too," Maizee said matter-of-factly from the sidelines.

"Wonderful! Just wonderful!" Mario growled.

"Don't worry, Mario! I'll help!" Stubba shouted, sounding frightened but determined as he raced forward.

Mario turned to him in shock. "Stubba? Wait, don't!!"

He was too late to stop him, though, and could only watch as Stubba unleashed his Club attack on the third Piranha. He pounded it over the head with his club multiple times, adding up to a decent amount of damage. The Piranha recoiled in obvious pain.

Mario stared. "Wow. He really is a strong little guy."

When the Piranha tried to lunge at him, Stubba screamed and ran a safe distance away.

"…Though he is still just a kid."

"Mario, we gotta end this fast!" Hanner alerted him as the two of them continued to face off against their respective foes. Mario couldn't have agreed more. They might actually lose this time, even with an extra team member.

He turned to his first partner. "Goomblaine, you're the strongest one right now! You have to get in there!"

"I can't Headbonk those things, stupid! Notice the teeth?"

"I'll lure it down here so you can hit it safely. Just _please _do this!"

Goomblaine rolled his eyes as Mario ran directly underneath the Piranha, swinging his hammer at it and taunting it.

"Come and get me, you big ugly set of teeth!"

Thankfully the Piranha wasn't too bright, as the plan worked like a charm. As Mario leapt backwards it crouched down and shot its head forward, snapping its jaws at him.

"Now, Goomblaine!"

To his relief, the Goomba did like he was told and threw himself at the Piranha's exposed head, jumping on it again and again. Mario realized he was using Multibonk for the first time.

"That's terrific, Goomblaine!"

"Yeah, whatever."

Goomblaine's superpowered hit was obviously too much for the Piranha to handle, as it let out a loud whimper before crashing to the ground. On either side of them, Hanner and Stubba had finally come out on top as well. The little Clubba was letting out a thunderous cry and whacking his Piranha with all his might, and finally the poisonous plant wilted and flopped over.

"This is for last time!" Hanner growled at the last one, whacking it directly across the face with her hammer. It, too, fell over in defeat, and Hanner cheered and twirled her hammer around in a victory pose.

"Hah! How d'ya like that?" Goomblaine sneered at Maizee.

"Yeah! We beat your stupid pets again!" Hanner chimed in mockingly. Stubba just stuck out his tongue.

"So you did," Maizee remarked as she casually observed her badly beaten Piranhas lying on the ground. "Well, Mario, you're as strong as they say and more. But I promise you, the next time we meet, you _will _be beaten."

"Oh, come _on!_" Mario shouted at her. "Can't you just accept that we're stronger and leave us alone? You'll never get those Sun Souls anyway!"

"That's where you're wrong. The Sun Souls _will _be mine, and neither you nor anyone else will get in my way."

She walked over to the center Piranha and climbed on its head. "You three! We're going! Now!"

And all three of them burrowed into the ground, pulling Maizee down with them.

"…What a freak," Goomblaine muttered after a moment of silence.

"Goomblaine, you say that about _everybody_," Hanner sighed. "But, yes, I agree. She was a freak."

Stubba seemed to be pondering something, and then he suddenly turned to look up at Mario.

"Mario? How come she said she wanted the Sun Souls? What are those?"

Mario looked back down at him and frowned reluctantly. He wished he didn't have to tell Stubba such a terrible story.

But he'd need to find out about the Sun Souls sooner or later. The one on top of the mountain belonged to him.

"I'll tell you as we go, Stubba," he decided. "Right now, I feel like we need get to the top of the mountain as fast as we can."

"Tell me about it!" Hanner cried. "Seems like _everybody's _after that Sun Soul! This is suddenly more like a race than a tour."

"Just one thing, geniuses," Goomblaine cut in. "We still don't know _how _to get up there! Wasn't that the whole point of coming to this dump in the first place?"

Mario deflated. "Oh, right…"

Hanner suddenly grew a smug look on her face. "Oh, yeah, about that…"

She suddenly pulled out a rolled-up piece of paper from inside her shell. As she unfurled it, Mario and the others found themselves looking at a large, detailed map of Mt. Tourmaline.

"I may have, uh, 'borrowed' this from Clefford after he passed out," she joked.

**_––_**

**_Mt. Tourmaline_**

**_9:03 pm_**

With the help of their ill-gotten map, Mario and company quickly found the trail that led away from Pebblegem Village. Stubba sadly looked back at it as they began the second half of the long climb. He wondered why he couldn't just stay at home with his nana where it was safe. Mario had carefully told him that they needed to rescue the Sun Soul at the top of the mountain, and they absolutely needed Stubba's help to do it. So he'd come with them, of course. He'd do anything Mario told him to, as long as it made the plumber happy.

Mario was cautiously treading up the trail, wary of any hazards he might not notice in the dark, when suddenly he heard voices behind him.

"Stubba, what's the matter?"

He stopped and turned around. Goomblaine had already gone far ahead, but hanging back were Hanner and Stubba. He was probably too far away for them to notice him.

"Nothing, Hanner. But I'm kinda scared."

Hanner smiled encouragingly. "That's okay, Stubba. We're all here for you. You know, you were really brave against those Putrid Piranhas."

"Yeah," the Clubba agreed. "I was really scared, but I wanted to fight them anyway. 'Cause I thought then, maybe Mario would like me."

Hanner blinked at him. "You think Mario doesn't like you?"

_Oh, no, _Mario groaned guiltily to himself.

Stubba shook his head. "I dunno why. Maybe it's just 'cause I'm so little. But I think he likes you a lot better, Hanner."

Mario sighed deeply. He didn't realize he'd been acting so harshly that even Stubba had noticed. He couldn't afford to have the little Clubba be angry at him. How bad would it look if he were only on good terms with one of his three partners?

"Stubba, don't be silly. Of course Mario likes you," Hanner assured him, crouching down next to him. "You don't have to run off into a fight like that to prove yourself to him. He's just glad to have you with us."

"Really?" Stubba didn't sound at all convinced.

"Yeah. But even if he _didn't_ like you, you should never let little things like that get to you. People who dislike you for no reason aren't worth your time."

That just made Stubba more anxious. "But what if he _does _have a reason? Did I do something bad?"

"What? Of course not! Stubba, you have to stop worrying. You could never do anything to make Mario not like you. There's not one thing about you not to like. Anyway, _I _think you're adorable."

Stubba beamed up at her. "D'you really?"

"Hey, guys, you might wanna get over here," Goomblaine's voice suddenly came from further up the trail. "I think I found another one of those star things."

"Huh?" Snapping his attention away from Hanner and Stubba, Mario spun around and raced up the trail to where Goomblaine was waiting. The Goomba gestured into a little cave where, suddenly, Mario noticed another set of glittering sparkles floating in the air.

"Thanks, Goomblaine. This is great." He turned sideways, and sure enough, there was another Luma hovering there and looking frightened.

"We haven't gone too far from the village yet," Mario told Goomblaine as he took the star in his hands. "We should bring this guy back right now."

**_––_**

**_Pebblegem Village_**

**_9:00 pm_**

"Oh, oh, oh!" cried the Luma as the group approached the Star Pedestal. "Is that what I think it is, good sir?"

"Yep. You can go home now," Mario assured the little star, placing it on top of the pedestal where it began spinning around and laughing in delight.

"Oh, this is most wonderful! You truly have no idea!" it cheered. "And I must repay you somehow! If you would like, I will add power to one of your friends before I go."

"Okay, Hanner, looks like it's your turn," said Mario. The Hammer Sis positively beamed and looked ready to take a step forward… but after a moment, she hesitated and suddenly drew back.

"Uh, Mario," she said reluctantly, "thanks for that, but… I think Stubba should get this one."

Mario looked at her in surprise, and so did Stubba.

"Are you sure about that, Hanner?" asked the plumber. "I thought you really wanted this."

"Oh, I do! It's just… I think Stubba needs it more than I do. I mean, this is _his _home, and we're looking for _his _parents and everything."

Mario got the feeling that wasn't her only reason, though.

"Oh, really, Hanner?" asked Stubba, his eyes shining with hope.

"Yeah. You get this one, little guy."

Stubba cheered and raced over to the Star Pedestal. The Luma began twirling around rapidly, and a shower of sparkles fell over the little Clubba. He started giggling as he was enveloped by a brief flash.

_Stubba was upgraded to Super Rank! He can now use Hyper Bounce to slam into all enemies multiple times!_

"Now what do you say to Hanner, Stubba?" Mario prompted him as the Luma flew out of sight.

"Thank you, Hanner," the Clubba recited.

Mario nodded. "You'll get the next one, Hanner," he promised her.

"Yeah, I s'pose," she agreed with a shrug, trying not to look jealous.

––

After that, the journey up the rest of the mountain truly got under way. Mario and his partners plowed their way up the steep trail, continuing to fight off the indigenous enemies that populated the mountain, but it would have been a lie to say it was easy going. As they climbed higher and higher, the path became rockier and more precipitous. Stubba often had to use his club to destroy rocks that were blocking off the trail.

Not only that, but they higher they went, the colder it became.

**_Mt. Tourmaline_**

**_9:42 pm_**

"I d-d-don't r-r-really like it up here," Hanner said with a shiver, hugging herself. It had been another long, weary day of hiking. Pebblegem Village already seemed like a distant memory, and by now they were high enough that the ground was covered in a thin layer of snow and flakes were falling down from the sky.

"We have to keep going, you guys," Mario pressed. "Remember, Clefford's going after the Sun Soul right now. Well, I mean… not _now _now, but in the morning now. You get it."

"How come we don't want him to get it?" asked Stubba, clearly fighting back exhaustion as he trudged along.

"Because it doesn't belong to him."

"Who _does _it belong to?"

"It belongs to – " Mario quickly cut himself off. He looked down at Stubba, who was gazing expectantly back up at him.

He couldn't tell him the truth… not yet. He just wasn't old enough to handle this.

"It belongs to one of the Twelve Guardians. You've heard of them, right?"

"Oh, yeah! Of course I have!" Stubba's eyes lit up in excitement. "D'you mean we're gonna give it back to them? Are we actually gonna get to meet one of them?"

"Yeah… I think we are," said Mario, smiling ever so slightly.

The smile quickly fell from his face, though, when he heard a rustling sound coming from farther up the trail.

He frowned. "Get back, you guys," he muttered, pushing his three partners underneath a rocky ledge to their left. It was dark out enough that the ledge cast a shadow over them that completely obscured them from sight.

Mario silently and intently watched in the direction of the noise, and was completely shocked when he saw three dark blue figures come skittering over to each other.

"_Them _again?" he whispered incredulously.

"Oh man… those are those Darkstriders, aren't they Mario?" Hanner asked softly.

"Just when I thought this couldn't get any worse," Goomblaine griped.

"So, is everything ready now?" asked Jaff. "Does our friend up there know about Mario's intrusion?"

"Oh, yes. Mario's not gettin' out of _there _in once piece," Nobb said with a low laugh. "But hey, Jaff, what about that Cleft that's coming up the mountain too?"

"Oh, please. That buffoon doesn't even need our help to get himself killed. But if he does make it, nothing says our friend can't take care of him too."

Stubba started whimpering nervously.

"Who'd be friends with _those_ weirdos?" Hanner wondered.

"Hey, Jaff! I just thought of somethin'," Pell chimed in. "Mario's pretty strong, y'know. Suppose he gets in a fight with that thing and _wins?_"

"He's not going to get in any fight. When he gets up there, he'll have no choice but to surrender to us and let our friend deal with him," growled the leader of the Darkstriders. "That is, assuming he doesn't want anything bad to happen to our hostages."

_Hostages? _Mario wondered. _But it can't be Clefford and the others. He said they're still out there –_

He froze. _Oh no. It must be –_

"What a bleeding heart he must be," Pell scoffed. "Who cares what happens to a couple of plain old Clubbas anyway?"

Hanner and Goomblaine gasped.

"MOMMY!! DADDY!!" Stubba cried.

Before Mario could even clamp his hand over Stubba's mouth, the Darkstriders had whipped around in their direction, and Jaff had leapt over to them and dragged the screaming Clubba out of the shadows.

"So! We got us a little junior spy, huh?"

"Let go of Stubba!!" Hanner shouted, charging out after them with Mario and Goomblaine at her heels.

"Don't hurt my mom an' dad, _please!!_" Stubba sobbed, though whether it was in fright or in pain from Jaff's grip on his arm, Mario wasn't sure.

By now, Pell and Nobb had scampered over to them as well. "Oh, great! Mario's here too!" Nobb growled in annoyance. "You want we should take care of him, Jaff?"

"Don't be stupid! Goomblaine and I beat you the first time, and there's _four _of us now!" Mario snapped, gripping his hammer just in case.

To his surprise, though, Jaff just narrowed his eyes at him. "He's right," he declared. "We didn't come here to fight him ourselves. Let's just see how they like another one of our little rockslides. If they survive that, maybe they're worthy enough to meet our friend."

Goomblaine looked ready to tear their heads off. "_You _caused all those rockslides?! You creeps nearly flattened us!"

"That is just down and _dirty!_" Hanner said angrily.

"Darkstriders don't play fair!" Jaff spat at her. "Pell! Nobb! You know what to do!"

He dumped Stubba on the ground, and all three of them suddenly vanished within a billow of black smoke that rose up from the ground.

"Where'd they go?" Goomblaine growled, looking around in irritation.

Mario didn't get time to ponder the answer to that. All of a sudden, the ground began to shake and tremble dangerously beneath their feet, and a loud rumbling noise slowly escalated from above their heads.

"Mario?" Stubba cried in fear, running over and clinging onto him.

"Not this again!" Hanner wailed. Panicking, Mario looked up in time to see a cascade of boulders rolling down the mountain. He had no time to wonder about how the Darkstriders had made it happen so quickly. They were going to be crushed in a matter of seconds.

"Get over here, guys! I have a plan!" he shouted over the crashing and rumbling. It was a desperate plan, but it was their best hope. Between Clefford and an imminent flattening, he knew which one he'd rather deal with.

Obediently, all three partners crowded in close to him, and Mario whipped out the Aeon Hourglass and flipped it over. They vanished in a flash, and an enormous jagged boulder crashed into the ground where they had been standing just an instant before.

**––––**

**A/N: **Next time, the climactic race between Mario and Clefford for the fate of the Sun Soul! Who will win?!? …Like you don't already know.


	14. Chapter 2, Part IV

**_Mt. Tourmaline_**

**_9:42 am_**

Clefford and the rest of the tour group were hiking cautiously along the mountain trail, wary of how close they had come to the very top. The air was cold and biting, and the sun was now hidden behind a sky of gray clouds as snow came floating down.

"What a moment of triumph this is!" the Bald Cleft declared proudly. "In just a matter of time that egg will be mine, and I shall be the richest Cleft in the world! HOO HA!! I can buy and sell the rest of your sorry selves!!"

Morris covered his face in his hands while everyone else exchanged looks.

"And best of all, that mustachioed ne'er-do-well is nowhere to be found!" Clefford chuckled to himself. "I suppose I showed him a thing or two! No one messes with Clefford! We'll probably never have to deal with that lout ever – "

At that very instant, there was a blinding flash directly in front of Clefford, and Mario, Goomblaine, Hanner and Stubba appeared out of nowhere.

"**DEMONS!!!**" shrieked the purple man.

"What in the – WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!?" Clefford bellowed at Mario. "How do you have access to teleportation technology, and why on earth haven't I heard of it?!?"

"So much for keeping a low profile," Hanner grumbled.

Mario gulped, looking at the group staring at him and realizing that this was probably the worst possible place they could have appeared.

"Uh… sorry, no time to talk. Gotta run."

Clefford was stunned. "What the – AFTER THEM, YOU FOOLS!!!" he screamed as Mario and his partners scrambled up the path, trying to get away from the Cleft as quickly as possible.

"Dude, what's your problem?" demanded the Koopa. "Those guys aren't doing anything wrong! Why exactly are you trying to stop them?"

"Yeah! You're being a jerk! Who says we should be helping _you?_" agreed the Buzzy Beetle.

Clefford turned to face the group and narrowed his eyes. "Very well. I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, but… if you all help me, you get a complete refund!"

Silence.

"AFTER THEM!!!" shrieked the Koopa, and the entire group tore up the mountain after Mario's team.

––

"Uh, Mario," Hanner said nervously, "I hate to be a downer, but I think they're chasing after us."

"Yeah, I see it, Hanner."

Mario's party was racing along the precipitous rocky path, which was growing more and more narrow and winding more and more tightly around the mountain as they grew ever closer to the top. It wasn't really helping their nerves that there was now an angry mob pursuing them.

"Come _on! _If that moron of a Cleft gets there first, we're through!" shouted Goomblaine, who was racing on ahead of the rest of them.

"What'll they do if they catch us?" cried Stubba. Hanner was holding tightly onto his hand and pulling him along.

"Nothing I really want to picture right now!" she responded, panting under the weight of her shell.

For the next several minutes, the mountain was engulfed in a mad race to the top. Mario's team and Clefford's group were scrambling up the trail, hopping over boulders, hoisting themselves up onto rocky ledges and climbing up series of jagged peaks. Rocks and pebbles were skittering and sliding down the path as the tumultuous pounding of footsteps shook them loose, and frantic and confused shouts were filling the air.

"We're almost there, guys!" shouted Hanner, pulling Stubba up onto a ledge along with the rest of them. "We're gonna beat them, I know we are!"

Mario looked anxiously above his head. Hanner was right; the very summit of the mountain was directly above them. It was an enormous stone landing big enough to fit dozens of people, and next to it was a massive, arching cave set into the mountain face.

Suddenly, Hanner let out a yelp of surprise. The other three turned to her as she frantically reached into her shell and pulled out the Dawn Soul. How she had fit it in there was anybody's guess.

"Mario, guys, look! It's glowing!"

Sure enough, Hanner's Sun Soul was giving off a brilliant, pink-orange light that illuminated the entire mountain face. It hadn't shined so brightly since she had first found it.

"Put it away, stupid! They'll see it!" Goomblaine hissed, and she fumbled and obeyed.

"Why's it doing that?" asked Stubba.

"Well, I'm not an expert, but my guess is that it's reacting to the Sun Soul up there," said Mario, pointing up at the enormous cave above their heads.

"Then we _must _be getting close!" Hanner cried. "Come on, guys, we're running out of time!"

They raced off again, clambering up what little was left of the steep, rocky trail. Every step was a grueling effort. The blustery wind was blowing snow in their faces, and the air was so thin that Mario was growing lightheaded.

Finally, panting with exhaustion and fear, the foursome managed to scramble safely up onto the large stone landing.

They made it. They were at the very top.

"Okay," Mario breathed. "The Sun Soul has to be right in that cave. Let's get in there and – "

"NOT SO FAST!!!"

Mario flinched at the voice. He groaned loudly and hopelessly as he turned around. Sure enough, Clefford was standing there glaring up at him, and from the sound of it the rest of the group was close behind him.

"It all ends here, you pusillanimous buffoon!" the Bald Cleft snapped at him. "I've made it this far, and that thing is rightfully mine! You'll never get your mitts on it!"

"Ugh! Don't you _get _it?" Hanner said in disgust. "We're not after that thing for ourselves, stupid!"

"Yeah! It belongs to one of the Guardians!" Stubba added, stepping forward fearlessly. "Mario said so! So you can't have it, you meanie!"

Mario stared down at Stubba. He wasn't sure why, but suddenly he was glowing in pride at the sight of the little Clubba.

Clefford glowered at him. "What? Stop talking nonsense! It's far too late to get me to fall for a ridiculous yarn like that! Now, Mustache Man! If I have to fight you for that thing, I will!"

Mario stared at him incredulously. "I'm not fighting _you!_"

"You have no choice!" Clefford declared, sidestepping between Mario and the cave entrance. "The only way in there is through me! And I _don't _plan on losing!"

Mario shook his head. They were out of time. If Clefford stalled them any longer, the rest of the tour group would be there, and it would all be over. He was all out of ideas…

And then he remembered – he still had one last POW Block.

"I really didn't want to do this, Clefford," he sighed, drawing it out. "But you forced it on me."

Clefford stared up at the POW Block, and as he realized what Mario was about to do, his eyes flooded with horror.

"Oh…"

Mario whacked the POW Block, and the entire stone landing lurched violently beneath them. Clefford was flipped upside down, totally immobile and helpless.

"CHEATER!! YOU CHEATER!!! SUCH COWARDICE!!! I'VE NEVER BEEN SO DISGUSTED!!!" he bellowed, but he was completely ignored as Mario, Goomblaine, Hanner and Stubba raced past him and directly into the cave.

**_––_**

**_Mt. Tourmaline_**

**_9:59 am_**

The inside of the cave was huge and vaulting, the arched ceiling at least fifty feet above their heads. Although he didn't see anyone or anything else, Mario got the suspicion that they weren't alone.

"So, where is it?" Goomblaine asked impatiently, a little taken aback by how much his voice echoed.

"It has to be here somewhere," Hanner said in confusion, looking around. "We're at the very top of the mountain, just like Peach said!"

"What if somebody stole it already?" Stubba wondered fearfully.

Mario had been wondering about that too, but now he just shook his head. "That can't be it. We're the first ones here. There's not another person up here."

"Uh… except for him."

"Huh?" Mario turned to face Hanner, who was staring up at something and looking very, very afraid.

He slowly followed her gaze, and his eyes bulged.

Something huge, wide, and lumbering was standing in the shadows, glaring down at them. It took one step and passed fully into the light, and the ground shook with the force of several POW Blocks as it did so.

Its entire body was covered in thick, shaggy white fur. A pair of razor sharp fangs protruded from its jaw as it growled at them. Even as it stood in a slouch with its knuckles dragging on the ground, Mario nearly fell over as he craned his head up to stare into its eyes.

Stubba shrieked.

"It – it – IT'S THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN!!!" Hanner screamed.

"You mean that thing's _real?!_" cried Goomblaine. "Geez, I ain't ever gonna hear the end of this one…"

"WHO ARE YOU?" bellowed the enormous monster, immediately silencing the group. "WHY YOU IN MY CAVE? YOU ANNOYING GUYS WHO WAKE ME UP?"

As Mario heard its voice, he blinked. Though it was loud, booming, and deep, there was something that sounded strange about it… it sounded…

_Female?_

"Hanner," he said cautiously, "I think that Snow_man _is a Snow_lady_."

Hanner's eye was twitching. "WHO CARES?!? SHE'S STILL GONNA EAT US!!!"

The monster snorted in annoyance. "OF COURSE ME LADY! ME FRIEDA ICEFANG!" she growled. "AND ME KNOW WHO YOU ARE! YOU GUYS WHO MAKE ALL THOSE ROCKSLIDES!"

Mario was shocked. "What?! That wasn't us!"

"ME NO CAN SLEEP WITH ALL THOSE ROCKSLIDES!" Frieda said accusatorily. "YOU GUYS NO SHOULD BE HERE! ME PUNISH YOU NOW!!"

Without further warning, she started beating her chest and roared in fury. Though Hanner was having a panic attack and Stubba was crying out in fear, Mario recognized that they couldn't flee this fight.

Goomblaine immediately Tattled on her. "That's Frieda Icefang, or the Abominable Snowman, or whatever the heck she is! She's the famous monster who lives on top of Mt. Tourmaline. Usually she attacks by slamming her fists down on people, but she's also got a killer icy breath that could freeze you solid! So if she uses that, _get out of the way, _genius!!"

"Thanks for the tip," Mario grumbled.

Sure enough, the first thing Frieda did was lunge toward them and pound the ground with a massive fist. Everyone jumped out of the way in time, and Mario quickly ran back up and delivered a Power Smash right on her hand. She yelped in pain and jerked her hand back.

"YOU GUYS MAKE ME MAD!!" she roared threateningly. She started slamming her fists down in every direction, trying to pick off the members of Mario's team, but they evaded her every blow. In the meantime, Hanner got in a Hammer Throw that hit the Abominable Snowlady directly in the face, and Stubba pounded one of her fists in a very painful-looking Club attack.

"I'm telling you, you've got the wrong guys!" Mario shouted desperately. "We didn't cause those rockslides!"

"YEAH, RIGHT! ME NOT STUPID!"

All of a sudden, she wound up and swatted her huge hand at the group, hitting all four of them at once. They all screamed in shock as they flew backwards and skidded across the stone floor. Mario winced in pain, slowly climbing back to his feet as Frieda advanced on them.

"Oh, no!" came Stubba's cry. "Hanner, get up!"

Mario whipped around. Hanner was lying sprawled on her shell, unable to get back up. Not even she was safe from a Koopa's most famous weakness.

"I'm okay, Stubba," she promised, struggling to flip over. "I promise! Just look after yourself!"

Frieda quickly took advantage of the moment, letting out a roar and slamming her fist right down on Hanner and Stubba. Luckily Hanner rolled out of the way just in time, and with a thrill of panic, Mario grabbed Stubba and pulled him away at the last instant.

"Stubba! You _have _to be more careful!" he insisted. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

Stubba looked up at him in shock. "You were really… worried about me, Mario?"

Mario groaned and shook his head. They had no time to be talking about this now…

But, yes. He really was worried about the little Clubba. The last thing in the world he wanted was to see Stubba getting hurt.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by Frieda. She let out another bellow and came charging toward them again, only to be stopped in her tracks by Goomblaine. He leapt onto one of her huge fists, bounced off of that and started Multibonking her on the head. She growled in frustration and attempted to swat him away.

"ME TEACH YOU GUYS!!" she declared. She swiped Goomblaine away with a flick of her wrist, sending the Goomba slamming into a stone wall. He slid to the floor, looking stunned.

"Oh no – Goomblaine!!" Mario shouted, attempting to run toward him.

He was stopped short as Frieda stomped directly in front of him, opening her massive fanged mouth. A sound like a whistling wind emitted from inside it, and suddenly she blasted out a frozen icy gale.

"YIKES!!" Hanner screamed, ducking into her shell just in time. Mario grabbed Stubba and threw both of them to the ground, shielding the little Clubba protectively as he prayed the arctic blast would miss him.

It didn't.

It was cold… horrifically cold. Mario let out a choked gasp as the blast hit him full force, driving the air out of his lungs and encasing ice all over his body. He winced as he felt himself growing immobile.

"Mario!!" Stubba screamed, scrambling out from underneath him, unharmed.

Mario looked at him helplessly. "Stubba…"

Frieda wasn't finished with him yet. Now that he was defenseless, she looked ready to deliver the final blow. She stomped toward him, ignoring Goomblaine and Hanner's efforts to halt her in her tracks.

Mario watched in terror as she lifted up her fist. He felt like he was seeing it in slow motion. For a long, horrible moment it hovered there, and then it came plunging down, engulfing Mario in its shadow.

He squeezed his eyes shut, preparing for the end –

And heard Frieda bellow in pain.

His eyes flew open. Frieda was cradling her hand and howling in agony as she staggered backwards. He looked down at himself in complete confusion, deciding he hadn't been hurt.

Then he felt his eyes drawn to Stubba, and he realized what had happened. The little Clubba was using Spike Guard, holding his club high above both of their heads in a defensive position. Instead of hitting either of them, Frieda had slammed her fist directly down on the club.

"Are you okay, Mario?" he asked in concern.

Mario nodded slowly, looking at him in astonishment. "Yeah… I'm fine."

As the feeling slowly returned to his body, he unsteadily got to his feet. Goomblaine and Hanner quickly ran to his side as he faced Frieda, who was now looking severely weakened.

"I say we finish off this freak of nature right now!" Goomblaine snapped impatiently.

"Couldn't agree more!" Hanner declared. All four of them scrambled forward and unleashed their most powerful attacks on the Abominable Snowlady. Stubba had a determined look set into his face as he bashed her with his club at every angle he could manage.

Finally, after taking one Power Bounce too many from Mario, Frieda let out a strangled groan and started staggering and swaying dangerously, completely disoriented. The ground shook with every step she took.

"Uh oh… get out of the way, guys!!" Mario cried.

All of them raced backwards to safety just as Frieda came plummeting down. She crashed onto the hard stone floor with a force that threw Mario and his partners several inches off the ground.

As everything fell still, Mario's group stood frozen in fear for a moment. Finally, they cautiously turned back around and approached her, waiting silently for her to move. But aside from her labored breathing, she was still.

"Did… did we win?" Hanner asked breathlessly.

"I think," Mario replied, though with the utmost caution. Gazing at Frieda lying there in a daze, he started to feel guilty. She wasn't the real villain, after all… but they'd had no choice. That fight had been self-defense.

His thought was cut short by an explosion that rocked the cave and sent him and his partners flying forward and crashing onto the ground.

"Unbelievable," came a cold, chilling voice from directly behind them. "_Unbelievable. _You actually _won?!_"

Clutching at himself in pain, Mario turned over onto his front and found himself face to face with the three Darkstriders.

"You're an even bigger nuisance than I thought," Jaff spat at them. "I thought for sure that Abominable Whatever would waste all of you!"

"Well, you thought wrong," Mario said firmly. He tried to look strong, but that blast of dark energy had been incredibly powerful. From the sight of his partners lying wincing on the ground, none of them had the strength to stand.

"Yeah… we beat your stupid friend," Goomblaine growled weakly. "Feelin' pretty dumb now, aren't you?"

Jaff only laughed in response, in a humorless and sinister voice.

"You're the ones who should be feeling dumb!" he snarled. "You should've known better than to disobey us! If you'd just surrendered without a fight, maybe we would have spared your lives. But now that you've pushed us this far, there's nothing stopping us from ending all of your games right now…and _theirs _too."

Before Mario could wonder what he meant by that, the leader of the Darkstriders suddenly snapped his fingers. Two clouds of black smoke puffed up out of nowhere, and when they had cleared, there were suddenly two creatures standing in the room that hadn't been there before. Pell and Nobb were each gripping tightly onto one.

They were two Clubbas, one pink and one blue.

"MOMMY!! DADDY!!" Stubba screamed, forgetting all about his pain and racing toward them.

"Stubba?!" cried the pink one, but the little Clubba didn't get any closer before Jaff leapt in his way, snarling. Stubba skittered to a stop, frozen in fear.

"What's this?" he cackled at the sight of Stubba. "_This _is the best help you could get against us, Mario? A little _baby?_"

Stubba glowered up at him. "Just 'cause I'm little doesn't mean I can't _do _anything!"

"All right, I've had enough of this," Jaff growled. "Conversation time is over. Mario, you've caused too much trouble for us to let you live. You and your friends are all about to have a very unpleasant Game Over – starting with these two." He turned to Stubba's parents. "I'm going to let you watch them die, just so you can spend your last moments knowing it was all your fault."

"No! You can't!" Mario cried frantically, trying to get to his feet only to topple over again. It was no use.

"Pathetic," Jaff regarded him with a shake of his head. "I'm going to enjoy making you watch this, Mario."

He strode over to the two Clubbas, opened his hands, and prepared to launch a lethal blast of dark energy.

It was then that Stubba decided to give a demonstration of his new Hyper Bounce attack.

Curling into a ball, he launched himself at Jaff at mach speed. The leader of the Darkstriders shrieked in shock and pain as Stubba crashed into his head, sending him staggering and collapsing to the ground. Bouncing off of Jaff, Stubba flew at Nobb and struck him as well, and then bounced off of him and hit Pell.

But Stubba wasn't done yet. He continued to bounce off the three Darkstriders time and again, slamming into each one in quick succession, ricocheting back and forth like a pinball and moving too quickly for the eye to trace.

"Woah," was all Hanner could say.

When it was all over, Stubba skidded to a stop and uncurled himself, glaring at the Darkstriders who were now all lying sprawled on the ground.

"Don't you _ever _hurt my mom an' dad!" he shouted. "Or Mario! He's my friend!"

"Grrr…" Jaff growled, attempting unsteadily to stand back up and bristling in absolute fury. "So! The kid thinks he's cute, huh?"

"I'm _adorable!_" Stubba said proudly.

Hanner burst out laughing. "YEAH! You tell 'em, Stubba!" she cheered.

Jaff staggered to his feet. "I'm _not _going to be beaten by a little brat like _you!! _I should've ended your game then and there when we sent that rockslide down on you and your obnoxious parents!!"

At that very moment, a long, looming shadow fell directly over Jaff and the Darkstriders, causing their leader's eyes to bulge as he stared off at nothing, too afraid to look up.

"WHAT THIS?" growled Frieda from where she was towering over him. "YOU BLUE GUYS MAKE ROCKSLIDES?"

Jaff slowly turned to face her, looking very sheepish and very frightened.

"Uh, well… you see… about that…"

"YOU SAY MUSTACHE GUY MAKE ROCKSLIDES!" roared the Abominable Snowlady. "YOU BIG LIAR! ME NO LIKE LIARS! ME GET RID OF LIARS!!"

All three Darkstriders screamed, scrambling to get away as Frieda took one lumbering footstep toward them. They didn't stand a chance.

"No – no – don't – AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" Jaff shrieked as Frieda made one enormous swiping motion with her hand, striking all three of them at once. Their screams were cut short as they each exploded in a burst of black smoke, which slowly faded away and left no trace that they had ever been there.

"Holy – " Hanner was stunned. "She – she didn't _kill _those guys, did she?"

"I don't think so," Mario said quietly. "Those guys are tough. They'll be back."

"Well, who cares," Goomblaine grunted. "Hopefully they're not stupid enough to come messin' with us again."

Frieda suddenly turned her attention over to Mario. "ME SORRY, MUSTACHE GUY," she said contritely. "ME NOT MEAN TO BEAT YOU UP. ME HOPE YOU OKAY."

"Oh…" Mario checked himself over and decided there was no harm done. "Uh… don't worry about it. No problem."

Hanner smiled. "Heh heh… I guess she's not as abominable as I thought. She's just misunderstood."

"Yeah, most mythical creatures are like that," Mario agreed.

"Stubba!" came another voice, and the little Clubba turned to find himself looking at his parents, freed once and for all from the grip of their captors.

"Mommy!! Daddy!!" he cried, sobbing in relief as he raced into their arms.

"Oh, Stubba… we were so worried about you," said his mother as she held tightly onto him. "I don't know what happened to us, but those awful blue things wouldn't let us get back to you."

"What a big boy you are," his father remarked. "You got up here and beat those guys all by yourself. We're so proud of you."

Stubba beamed up at them. "Don't worry, Mom an' Dad. I won't let anything bad happen to you, ever."

Mario smiled. "What a relief. He's back with his family after all."

Then suddenly, for the first time, he remembered their task at hand. "Say, Frieda… uh, do you happen to have some kind of glowy egg thing with you? We kind of need it. That's the reason we came up here."

Frieda looked surprised. "HUH? YOU MEAN THIS THING?"

She reached somewhere within her fur and pulled out a very familiar-looking object.

It looked like Hanner's Sun Soul, but its coloring was different. Rather than being the deep and rich color of a rising sun, it was a brighter, more vibrant orange-yellow that spoke of a warm and brilliant morning. But with its shining light and silver swirling waves, it was every bit as beautiful.

Mario smiled. "That's it, all right."

"YEAH, YOU GUYS CAN HAVE IT," Frieda said generously. "ME NO WANT IT. ME TRY TO EAT IT. NOT WORK SO WELL."

She bent down in order to give it to Mario, only to grow a shocked expression as it floated right out of her hand. Mario, on the other hand, didn't look surprised at all, and only watched knowingly as the Sun Soul floated directly away from him and towards a certain other person.

Stubba suddenly noticed something bright and shining out of the corner of his eye, and he turned away from his parents to see the Sun Soul hovering directly in front of him, glowing urgently in his presence.

"Oh… Mario!" he said in awe, immediately taking it in his hands and hurrying over to the plumber. "This is the Sun Soul, right? Are we gonna give it back now?"

This was it. Mario couldn't keep the truth from him any longer. Unsure of how to begin, he took a deep breath.

"Stubba," he said slowly, "there's something important I haven't told you about the Guardians. You see… not too long ago, a very bad man went and killed them."

Stubba stared up at him in horror. "He _what?!_"

"But it's not all bad," Mario went on quickly. "Because now there's going to be six people who are going to replace them. And that's who the Sun Souls belong to."

Stubba seemed to understand that, but momentarily his face clouded in confusion. He looked down at the Sun Soul in his hands, remembering how it had floated over to him so loyally, and suddenly started feeling a connection to it stronger than anything he'd ever felt before.

"Then how come…"

"That Sun Soul went over to you," Mario informed him, "because it's yours."

Stubba looked horrified.

"M-m-me?!" He cried out. "B-but I… why _me? _I can't be a Guardian! I'm not big enough! I mean, I don't even know how!"

"It's okay, Stubba," Mario assured him, getting down next to him. "_Nobody _really knows how to be a Guardian."

"Yeah… I sure don't," Hanner said with a chuckle.

"Hanner?" Stubba looked at her in surprise, then turned back to Mario. "But… but I can't do it, Mario! I won't do it right! I'm too scared!" His eyes were flooding with tears. "How come somebody grown up can't do it?"

"It doesn't matter how old you are. All that matters is that you're brave, and kind, and you'll always do the right thing. And that's good enough."

"And besides, you won't do it by yourself," Hanner added encouragingly. "We'll all be here for you, the whole way."

Stubba looked unsurely between his three teammates. "Really? All of you?"

Mario nodded and, for the first time, gave Stubba a genuine smile. It had taken long enough, but seeing the pure-hearted little Clubba fighting selflessly by his side and defeating the Darkstriders – and seeing him now, clutching the Sun Soul so closely to himself – had finally convinced the plumber of what he should have realized a long time ago.

What had happened in the past didn't matter anymore. Stubba was a loyal and wonderful companion, and a Clubba. And that was more important than anything else.

"We'll always be here for you, Stubba," he said, making the Clubba's eyes shine with delight. "I promise." And he hugged him.

Stubba cheered and hugged Mario back. Hanner let out a long "_Awwwww_" while Goomblaine looked ready to start gagging.

**_Mario found the Morning Soul! His Star Power is now 2! With Stubba's help, he can now use the special move, Freeze Frame!_**

**~END OF CHAPTER~**

_After a long and grueling journey, Mario finally recovered the second Sun Soul high up the slopes of Mt. Tourmaline. Shockingly enough, the infamous "Abominable Snowman" turned out to be a new friend to Mario and his team. But what has become of the Darkstriders, not to mention their mysterious leader? Certainly they haven't been defeated yet, and Mario's next encounter with them will only be more dangerous than ever…_

**_To Be Continued…_**

**––––**

**A/N: **Yaaaaay! I actually finished two whole chapters of this crazy thing! I'm on a roll!

I'm glad so many of you like the story, but you know I'm always open to constructive criticism. If you like it now though, you're going to like it even more later. Trust me, I haven't even GOTTEN to the good chapters yet. Just you wait… :D


	15. Chapter 2 Interlude

**A/N: **This is unrelated to the story, but is anyone else getting supremely ticked off by all these "I Heart Vampires" ads? I for one DO NOT HEART VAMPIRES!!!

_**––––**_

_**The Temple of the Sun**_

_**00:00**_

Things had not been going well for King Shroude's top-priority prisoner. Try as she might, Peach was unable to devise a way to escape the Temple of the Sun, nor was she able to uncover any information that would be useful to _anyone. _All she knew about was the Sun Soul on top of Mt. Tourmaline, and what was she supposed to do about that?

"Princess, I insist you relax for a moment!" said Toadsworth as she was pacing back and forth in agitation. "You won't be any help to Master Mario if you wear yourself out like this."

Peach spun around to glare at him. "You want me to _relax?_" she shrilled. "Have you noticed our situation, Toadsworth? We're being held prisoner by some madman, with absolutely _no _way out of this mess! We can't even tell Mario where we are!"

"And I didn't like the sound of what he wanted to do to Peach," added Luigi. "I mean, he wants her for something big. And that _can't _be good."

Peach moaned, sitting down on the Aeon Clock. "Why is it always _me?_" she lamented. "Why am _I _always the one the villains need for their megalomaniacal plans? I mean, couldn't _Daisy _get kidnapped just once?"

Luigi instantly started blushing. "Princess Peach! How can you say something like that?!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Luigi," Peach muttered. "It's just… I'm so sick and tired of this. Every time we think we've saved the world, somebody else comes along to muck things up."

After a moment, she suddenly stood up and turned to face the Aeon Clock. "That King Shroude has gone _too _far!!" she raged. "He honestly thinks he can get rid of Day?! And he thinks I'm going to help him do it? Why if he were here right now, I'd give him a piece of my mind!!"

Unable to contain her frustration any longer, she clenched her fists and kicked the enormous clock as hard as she could.

She was not expecting an enormous crack to form across it, splitting the entire thing in half.

"Princess! You broke it!!" Luigi cried.

Peach gasped, hands flying to her mouth. "I-I didn't mean to!" she insisted, starting to panic. "I mean – I didn't think I was _that _strong…"

As they got a closer look, though, they realized that the crack was supposed to be there. In fact, it had _always _been there. The Aeon Clock was made up of two halves, and Peach had just managed to split them apart.

And then, suddenly, the two halves started moving even further apart, seemingly of their own accord. They both rotated on hidden axes until the space that they had been covering up before was completely unveiled.

Peach, Luigi and Toadsworth all cautiously approached it and peered down into the blackness.

"It… it's a staircase," Peach realized.

"So then… this place we're in… this isn't the whole temple?" Luigi marveled. "There's more! This is just one _room!_"

Peach jumped to attention. "Come on, you two! Let's investigate!"

"Princess! Are you not the least bit concerned for your own safety?!" Toadsworth exclaimed, grabbing her by the arm before she could go charging down the stairs. "We haven't the slightest idea what's down there!"

"Whatever it is, it has to be better than up here," Peach replied firmly, shirking him off. "Besides, do you want to get out of here or not? We could find a way to escape!"

"I'm with the princess on this one," Luigi agreed. "Just… somebody else go down first."

And so all three of them traveled ever so cautiously down the long flight of stairs, heading to the lower floor of the Temple. They spent a good portion of the trip in near-perfect darkness, leaving Luigi to whimper nervously with every descending step.

"If we get caught, we're done for," he muttered.

"He won't do anything to us. He wouldn't," Peach reassured him… though she wasn't sure if that was true. She had a feeling Luigi was more expendable than she was.

Finally, they saw a faint light coming from a doorway at the bottom of the stairs. And much to their surprise, they could hear voices as well.

Luigi jerked to a stop. "Th-that's him!!" he cried, recognizing the voice of King Shroude. "Oh man, I knew this was a bad plan!!"

"Oh, get a hold of yourself, old bean!" Toadsworth snapped, standing in the green plumber's way before he could go fleeing back up the stairs. "If you continue with that racket we're _sure _to be caught! Now just calm down and – "

At that moment, both of them noticed that Peach had reached the very bottom of the stairs and was peering into the doorway.

"_Peach!!_" they both whispered loudly, scrambling down after her and attempting to drag her away.

"_Shh!!_" Peach whipped around and put a finger to her lips, then silently gestured to them to look into the doorway with her. Ever so cautiously, the three of them craned their heads around to see what was on the other side.

It was a long, ornate hallway with a magnificent carpet and shining golden walls. There weren't any other doors to be seen, but standing just a few yards away from them was King Shroude himself, and he was glaring down at the familiar figures of Jaff, Pell, and Nobb. The three Darkstriders looked like they had seen better days.

"So let me get this straight," the Master of Night said sternly. "Not only did the monster of Mt. Tourmaline _not _get rid of Mario, it decided to take its anger out on _you_ instead? No doubt due to some fumbling of your own?"

"Our most humble apologies, my lord," Jaff muttered, nursing several visible injuries. "Our plan wasn't as infallible as we thought." He sagely decided to leave out the part about how they'd also been beaten up by a six-year-old Clubba.

"And I suppose this means Mario has found the second Sun Soul as well," Shroude sighed deeply. "Simply spectacular. I hope you realize what a disappointment you three are."

Peach, Luigi and Toadsworth all stared at each other in shock. Had they heard right? Mario had actually found the second Sun Soul? But how had he known where to look?

"Give us another chance, my lord!" Pell pleaded. "We won't rest until we've put a stop to Mario's meddling! Just give us the word!"

"Now that he's found the Morning Soul, he'll surely be going after the Sunhigh Soul in Mustard Mines next!" Jaff agreed. "We can head him off there with no problem!"

Shroude's anger seemed temporarily abated when he heard Jaff's words. "Hmm… Mustard Mines, you say?" he mused, stroking his chin. "That's where you hid the third one?"

"Mario doesn't stand a chance of finding it… but we'll go after him just the same!" Jaff insisted, desperate to get back in their king's good graces.

"That won't be necessary," Shroude immediately decided. Much to everyone's surprise, he was suddenly wearing a smug grin. "From what I've heard, that place is having some serious problems of its own. We'll see just how Mario likes it over there. Frankly, I doubt he'll make it even _without _our interference."

The three Darkstriders looked at each other in uncertainty.

"Is it really smart to let Mario get off like that without us watching 'im?" asked Nobb.

"Clearly it's no less smart than leaving _you _three to deal with him," Shroude replied sharply, causing his minions to wince. "Need I remind you that's twice now you've lost to him? I'm starting to think Mario is too important a case to be left with all of you."

The Darkstriders looked horrified. They had to do something to prove they were still useful! The incident on Mt. Tourmaline couldn't possibly have been a complete failure.

"We did learn something interesting, my lord," Jaff ventured. "Apparently Mario and those friends of his have become targets of some mercenary."

"Mercenary? Who?"

"She's some weirdo Crazee Dayzee lady!" Pell chimed in. "And she commands a gang of very powerful Putrid Piranhas."

"Mario beat her, of course, but we still don't know what her motives are," Jaff continued. "She's after the Sun Souls too, but nobody knows why!"

"Well, that _is _interesting," Shroude agreed, folding his arms thoughtfully. "I wonder, just how badly _does _she want the Sun Souls? That would determine whether we have a new ally or a new target on our hands. If she can't be negotiated with, we'll have no choice but to eliminate the competition."

Jaff quickly brightened up. "So you trust us now?"

"I never said that."

The Darkstriders all wilted.

All of a sudden, a thick cloud of black smoke came rising up from the floor behind Shroude and the Darkstriders – the signature sign of the arrival of one of their kind. Surprised, Peach and the others leaned over and watched in interest as a fourth Darkstrider suddenly appeared, marching dutifully over to Shroude. Jaff, Pell and Nobb did not look at all happy to see the newcomer.

"My lord! I come with important news," she announced – for this one was definitely female. Not only that, but she was about an inch taller than Jaff, and instead of blue, her skin was dark green. "We've just gotten word of two new arrivals in Chronoside. Somehow they were able to get past your barrier surrounding the land."

Shroude looked astonished. "Just what are you saying, Rizz?!" he demanded. "My powers made it so Chronoside has been completely quartered off! No one leaves or enters! How is this possible?"

"We're not sure, my lord," Rizz replied. "One of them was a Magikoopa, though, so that may have had something to do with it. Their spells have effects we haven't fully studied yet."

"Hmph. Fine. Who was the other one? And where are they now?"

"The other one was a very large Koopa… and a strange-looking one at that," the female Darkstrider reported, making a conscious effort to keep her posture perfect as she spoke. "From what we've heard, he's none too bright. Anyway, our report says they're both currently in Soluna Town, but…"

"_But _what?"

"Well… they're in two different halves of Soluna Town, if you know what I mean," Rizz tried to explain. "That lumbering oaf of a Koopa is in the accursed Daytime world, and the old hag of a Magikoopa is in our world."

Peach immediately ducked out of the doorway, facing Luigi and Toadsworth urgently.

"You two! She – she's talking about Bowser and Kammy, isn't she?"

"What are _they _doing here?" Luigi wondered.

"Very well," Shroude decided. "Thank you for that valuable information, Rizz. Excellent work as always."

"I am not worthy, my lord."

The other Darkstriders glared at her, and she gave them a _very_ smug smirk.

"Jaff, Pell, Nobb," Shroude went on, "let's leave Mario to his fruitless quest in Mustard Mines. If the three of you really want to be useful, I have a better job for you. Go and find these two newcomers of ours and find out who they are, and what they're doing here."

"It will be done, my lord!" Jaff declared loyally, but it didn't seem to move Shroude at all.

"Very good. All of you are dismissed."

All four Darkstriders nodded, and all at once four puffs of black smoke rose up and engulfed them. When it had cleared, they had all vanished.

"This has given me _quite _a bit to think about," Shroude mused to himself now that he was alone. "But _how _does Mario continuously find out where to go? Surely those three aren't incompetent enough to let slip something as important as that…"

He glowered. "No… it must have been the princess. Somehow _she's _been communicating with him," he growled. "I suppose the blame for this latest failure falls partially on me as well… I've been feeding information to our enemies. A mistake I won't make again."

Suddenly, he became aware of a strange feeling. His eyes narrowed suspiciously at something, and he jerked his head up and spun around.

He wasn't alone.

"Who's there?!" he bellowed. "Who are you?!"

Peach, Luigi and Toadsworth had already fled all the way back up the stairs.

––

"That was _too _close," Luigi moaned as Peach frantically pushed the two halves of the clock back together, covering their escape.

"But this is good news, you two!" she insisted, flushing with excitement. "Somehow, Mario found out where the second Sun Soul was, and he's found it! And now – now we know where the third one is too!"

"Pardon me, princess, but I thought we already agreed that doesn't help our situation one bit," Toadsworth reminded her. "Mario's the one who needs that information, not us."

"I know, I know. But think about it, both of you. Somehow – _somehow_, Mario found out where to go, didn't he? And us three are the only ones who knew."

She folded her hands. "I think, somehow, us finding out where the Sun Souls are _is _helping Mario. I… I can't explain it, but I think we need to keep finding out where the next ones are. That's how we're going to help him."

"You're not making any sense, Princess," Luigi said cautiously.

"I don't understand it myself. But it's the only explanation I can think of."

She looked between the two of them, and for the first time in a long time, she dared to smile.

"Mario _will _find that next Sun Soul… I know he will," she said firmly. "As long as he's still out there, there will always be reason for us to carry on. There will always be hope."

_**––**_

––

_**Soluna Town**_

_**12:00 Noon**_

Not everyone was currently feeling as optimistic as Peach.

"WHO THE HECK IS _THAT _GUY?!?"

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!"

"_AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!_"

The crowd of busy people in the town square was rapidly parting and fleeing to make room for a certain huge, lumbering Koopa who was staggering up the street.

"What the heck is going on here?" Bowser grumbled to himself, quickly getting annoyed by the screams filling his ears. He was feeling incredibly dizzy and disoriented, and he couldn't say at all how he had gotten here. The last thing he could remember was flying into those enormous black clouds with Kammy…Where _was _Kammy, anyway?

"Would somebody _please _tell me where this place is?!" he shouted at the panicking citizens. "And stop screaming like that! You're gonna give me a migraine! Seriously, SHUT UP!!!"

Bowser unleashed his impatience and fury in the form of a fiery blast from his mouth, which incinerated several shirts that had been hanging from a clothesline and set a few streetside kiosks on fire.

"NOOOO!! My spices!!" wailed a Lakitu merchant wearing a fez.

"Man… everywhere I go, it's _always _the same thing," Bowser grumbled to himself as the last few remaining citizens ran and hid. "Why am I so terrifying? I mean, I know my sheer awesomeness can be pretty intimidating, but is it really _that _bad?"

There were three people standing in the street who weren't scared of Bowser in the least. Jaff, Pell and Nobb were crouching in the shadow of a nearby building, regarding the Koopa King closely.

"Man, I _hate _goin' to this Daytime world," Nobb complained, rubbing his forehead. "All this sun is givin' me a headache."

"Quit complaining, both of you!" Jaff hissed. "This is the one King Shroude wanted us to find! Let's hurry up and get him, and we'll minimize the time we have to spend in this accursed place."

"Well, at least this way I can look for those stupid Mario Brothers without any interference," Bowser finally decided. "And my sweet little Peach, too! I bet she'll be so happy to see her chubby hubby! But where could they be, anyway?"

What Bowser didn't realize, of course, was that Peach was currently no further away than the opposite side of town. If he'd managed to make his way over there, he would have found her, and things would have gone from bad to worse for our heroes.

But he didn't, so this happened instead.

"Excuse me!" came a commanding voice from near the ground.

Confused, Bowser turned around and looked down, finding himself staring at three dark blue imps.

"Huh? Who are you three supposed to be? Mutated Gloombas?" he demanded. "Look, I'm in the middle of something important right now, so kindly move before I crush you."

"_Excuse _me!" repeated the one in the center, not budging an inch. "By order of King Shroude, ruler of Chronoside, we've been asked to ascertain the meaning of your arrival here. Who are you, and what is your business here?"

Bowser looked incredulous. "Why would I tell you _that_, Bluey?" he snapped. "Now get outta my way, shrimps! I have a princess to look for! And an old hag, if I'm in the mood."

"The Magikoopa who arrived here with you," Jaff interpreted. "Well, she's not here. She's currently in _our _half of the world. It would seem that since the two of you arrived after our lord seized control of this place, you haven't been split like everyone else. Trust me, we'll be finding your companion and speaking with her soon enough."

"…Umm… _what?!_"

It was no secret that Bowser wasn't the smartest Koopa around. Things like a world and all the people in it being split into mirror halves was something slightly outside his comprehension. Whenever he ran into a situation like this, he always dealt with it the same way: brute force.

"All right, you guys aren't making a whiff of sense," he growled, forcefully shoving the Darkstriders out of the way. "I don't have any more time to waste here! I have to find me a princess and trounce me a Mario!"

The Darkstriders' ears all pricked up at once.

"Did you say _Mario?_" Jaff repeated.

"Yeah, what of it?" Bowser sniffed, already stomping away.

The Darkstriders hastily exchanged glances with each other before their leader spoke up again. "Mario has recently become a personal target of our lord," he called after Bowser. "He's been interfering in our plans, and we don't approve of it. We would appreciate any help at all in getting rid of him."

Bowser slowly drew to a stop. After standing where he was for a moment, he turned back around to face the Darkstriders.

"You freaks wanna get rid of Mario too?" he asked, sounding intrigued.

Jaff nodded, a wicked smile spreading across his face as a plan began to formulate in his mind.

"Sir," he said, "we have a proposition for you."


	16. Post Chapter 2

**A/N: **Over 100 reviews already… you guys are the best.

––––

**_Pebblegem Village_**

**_9:00 am_**

The entire length of the journey, Mario's team had been worried about just how they would get back down the mountain after they'd made it all the way up. Thankfully, that problem was solved in the form of Frieda Icefang the Not-So-Abominable Snowlady, who jovially volunteered to give them a ride down. Not so thankfully, that ride entailed clutching onto her for dear life as she literally ran down the mountain face, covering the distance back to the village in a matter of minutes. Mario felt lucky he hadn't had a heart attack or gone mute from all that screaming.

At the very least, when she climbed back up to the top for a second trip, Clefford had to go through the same thing.

"Hey look, everyone! It's the mustache guy!" cried the Koopa as soon as the tour group had made it safely back to the village.

"Quick everybody! Let's pelt rocks at him!!" shouted the Mouser.

"WHAT THE HECK?!?" Mario screamed as the entire group started doing just that. Thankfully, Clefford stepped in at the nick of time and started loudly berating them, saying there was no point in attacking him anymore since they had already failed to stop him from reaching the Sun Soul.

"You're lucky I don't charge you all double for this, you louts!" he growled as they all sheepishly dropped the rocks they hadn't thrown yet. Mario just shook his head.

"So, Clefford, I hope you've learned something from all this," he said firmly after the group had bidden their fond farewells to Frieda. "Especially since that Abominable Snowman turned out to be real after all. If we hadn't been there to stop you from going in the cave, who knows what would've happened to you?"

"Hmph. All I've learned is that some people are ridiculous cheaters and cheapskates," the Cleft grumbled, jealously eyeing the Sun Soul that Stubba was holding in his arms. "You mark my words, Mustache Man, this is not the end of Clefford! One day I shall be the richest Cleft alive! The grand enterprise of Clefford Touring Unlimited shall take over the world! You shall all be bugs beneath the mighty shoes of…"

He continued ranting as he walked away. Morris shook his head after him yet again.

"If I know one thing about that guy, it's that he never learns anything," the Monty Mole apologized. "Or if he does, he won't admit it. I think there may have been a very subtle apology somewhere in that rant."

Mario grinned. "Well, tell him it's all right. And tell him this tour was a very educational experience."

Mario's team, along with the tour group, decided to spend some time resting at the Tavern before they started their journey back. This gave Mario enough time to take care of their one big remaining task: talking to Stubba's parents.

After wondering what exactly he was supposed to tell them to convince them that he needed to take their son away on an incredibly dangerous quest, he finally decided that he had no choice but to tell them the entire truth: why they needed Stubba, and nobody else, to come with them, and why it was physically impossible for his parents to come with. He thought it was only by some divine miracle that they finally believed him, although saving them from the Darkstriders had probably helped his credibility.

"So… you really need our son to save the world?" his mother sighed, looking down at him. "Oh, Stubba, I always knew you'd do big things with your life. I just didn't think they'd be so _soon._"

"Don't worry, Mommy. I'll be with Mario! He's the best! I'm not scared of anything when he's here."

"You obviously have a very brave and pure son, if that makes you feel better," Hanner offered.

"Now, you listen here," Stubba's father said to Mario. "You'd better make sure _nothing _happens to him, understand? And you'd better send us an e-mail every day and tell us how he's doing!"

Mario blinked. "You guys get Internet up here?"

Though it took a while, Stubba finally said all the goodbyes he could manage to his parents (and his nana as well, who still wasn't too happy that Mario had, in her eyes, kidnapped the little Clubba from right under her nose). After that, they began the long hike down the mountain, and before too long they were back in the town where it all began.

**_––_**

––

**_Soluna Town_**

**_12:00 Noon_**

Stubba looked a little nervous from the size and activity of the town, but at the same time he looked excited to be there.

"I've never been on an adventure before, Mario! This is so cool! But how come we're here?"

"Well, we still need to find four more Sun Souls and four more Guardians. So we're going to go talk to a friend of ours who hopefully can tell us where the next ones are."

On the way over to Rodolfo's house, Mario decided to stop by the Badge Shop nearby and picked up a few choice Badges: Damage Dodge for himself and Damage Dodge P for his partners. After that, they headed straight over to the Doogan's residence, eager to find out where the journey would be taking them next.

"I really hope Peach is still okay," Mario said to Goomblaine and Hanner. "I can't stop worrying about her, knowing that half of her is being locked up like that."

He didn't have to worry. Almost the very instant they were through the door, Peach had suddenly dashed over, enveloped Stubba in a crushing hug and started gushing on and on about how adorable he was.

"Oh, and I missed you too, Mario," she added sweetly.

"Hello, Mario!" Rodolfo said excitedly, running over to him as well. "Oh, is this our new Guardian? Wonderful!! Absolutely wonderful! Two Sun Souls and two Guardians already! This effort of ours has been more successful than I ever imagined! I say we waste no time getting started on the next one."

"Couldn't agree more," Mario said with a nod. He turned to Peach, who was still distracted with Stubba. "Uh, Peach…" he cleared his throat. "You didn't happen to find out where the next Sun Soul is, did you?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes, I did!" she replied proudly, putting Stubba down. "Apparently, it's called the Sunhigh Soul and it's in some place called Mustard Mines."

"Really? A Sun Soul called the Sun_high _Soul?" Mario didn't sound impressed. "Well, I guess it's not as bad as the Crystal Star called the _Crystal _Star."

Rodolfo looked stunned. "Mustard Mines, you say? Oh dear, I'm afraid that doesn't bode very well for us."

"What do you mean?" asked Mario.

"Well, you'd better come have a look."

He led them over to the coffee table where Luigi and Toadsworth were waiting, took the map from Mario's hands and unfurled it over the table.

"There's your next destination," he announced, pointing at the northwest corner of the map, which happened to be the arid, desert-covered region. "The Mustard Mines are a very famous landmark. They've been around for nearly a hundred years, and they've been continuously expanded on ever since then. They're a virtual labyrinth! It's quite possible that you _never_ find the Sun Soul in there."

"Boy… I'm glad I'm not going this time," Luigi said nervously. "Getting lost underground doesn't sound like a good time."

"Oh, please," Hanner said with a roll of her eyes. "We just scaled the tallest mountain in Chronoside, and we're supposed to get scared of some _mines? _Come on, Mario's dealt with worse things than that! I bet he goes in there and busts the place open until we find the Sun Soul!"

"Yeah! Mario can do _anything!_" Stubba agreed. "Right, Mario?"

"Uh… yeah. What they said."

"Well, I'm afraid it's not even _that _simple," Rodolfo sighed. "In case you couldn't tell, the Mustard Mines are _gold _mines. You can't just walk in there whenever you feel like it. They're the property of a town known as Golden Spur Ranch."

"'Golden Spur Ranch'…" Mario seemed to be mulling the name over in his head. "Somehow, I have a pretty good image of that town in my head already."

"Well, I should think so!" Rodolfo agreed. "Corrals, saloons… it's cowboy country over there, folks!"

Hanner looked excited about that. "Ooh, really? Cowboys are handsome!"

"Is that _all _you think about?" Goomblaine said in exasperation.

"More to the point," Rodolfo went on, "I'm quite certain you'll need to go there first and get some sort of official clearance to go to the Mustard Mines. I'm sorry I can't be more helpful than that."

"Don't worry about it," said Mario. "Golden Spur Ranch it is, then. So how do we get there?"

Rodolfo opened his mouth to answer, but momentarily he shut it again.

"As a matter of fact," he said sheepishly, "I'm not entirely sure."

Hanner groaned.

"Remind me why we keep listenin' to this fool," Goomblaine muttered.

"Come on, Rodolfo, you have to have _some _idea," Mario insisted. "Isn't there a Warp Pipe around that will take us there, or anything?"

"I'm sorry, Mario, but this is one thing I'm just not sure about," the Doogan sighed. Suddenly, though, his eyes widened. "Oh! But there _is _someone I know of who can surely help you!"

"Who is it?"

"I happen to know of a mysterious old shaman who lives just up the street from here. His name is Merlon."

Mario grinned. "Aha… so this place has a Merlon too, huh?"

"'_A_ Merlon'?"

"…Long story."

"Well, anyway Mario, this Merlon is said to have the ability to see into the future and advise people on the path they should follow. Many people travel here to seek his advice. I'm sure he could divine some way for you to reach Golden Spur Ranch."

"Perfect! Then that's just what we'll do," Mario decided. "I'll see you later, everyone. Peach, let go of Stubba."

"But he's so cuddly!" Peach whined, and it was only with a maximum amount of effort that Mario was able to drag Stubba out the door.

––

It took no time at all for Mario to find Merlon's house. As he and his partners walked inside, they found themselves in a dark, smoky room with stars painted on the walls and colorful veils hanging across the ceiling. The wizard himself was standing in the middle of the room, crouched over a crystal ball.

Like every other iteration of Merlon Mario had ever seen, this one was draped in blue robes and a hood that obscured most of his form, and he had an enormous bushy mustache that reached down to the floor. Apart from that, all that was visible of him was a pair of beady yellow eyes.

"Welcome, Mario, Goomblaine, Hanner and Stubba," he intoned in a faraway voice. (Stubba's jaw dropped open when he heard that.) "I am Merlon the magician. I predicted your arrival from studying my crystal ball. You have come here in need of advice."

"Yep, that's about it," Mario agreed. "We're looking for something – and some_one _– very important near a place called Golden Spur Ranch, but we have no idea how to get there."

Merlon nodded slowly. "The simple task of locating such a place I can easily accomplish," he decided, "for a reasonable sum of ten Coins."

Expecting this, Mario fished around in his pockets and handed the Coins to Merlon.

"Very good," the wizard decided. "I will consult the crystal for the answer to your dilemma. Wait there, and observe."

Merlon leaned in close over the crystal, concentrating with all his might. He began muttering arcane magic words under his breath, and suddenly the crystal began to glow. Images of stars and planets began flashing across the wall, and the room began to feel as though it were spinning. Mario and his partners watched in awe.

"SHA-ZIBBY!!" Merlon shouted. "SHA-**ZOOBY!!**"

The crystal gave one final, blinding flash with a sound like a firecracker going off. When the light died down, the room had returned to normal.

"AHA!!" cried Merlon. "You needn't fear any longer, Mario, for the crystal has told me that the answer to your problem is fast approaching. Your way to Golden Spur Ranch will soon be here."

"Do you know _how _soon?"

Merlon squinted at the crystal again. "…In about two seconds."

"Huh?"

That very instant, the door came flying open and slammed into the wall with a deafening crash. Which was somewhat unfortunate for Goomblaine, who had been standing directly in front of it.

"YOU SON OF A – " he screamed from on the floor, but Mario's attention was quickly drawn away from him and toward the Bumpty who had just come bursting into the room.

"MERLON-DUDE!!" he cried joyfully. "Long time no see, dude! What is up, my good man?"

"Oh for crying out – " Merlon exclaimed. "Ferdinand! Can you not see I have visitors? Whatever you and your 'boarding buddies' need this time, it'll have to wait!"

"Aw, please, Merlon?" begged another voice, and all of a sudden four more Bumpties had appeared behind the first one.

Mario stared at them. All five penguins were dressed up in what appeared to be surfer attire. Their leader, Ferdinand apparently, was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a red baseball cap (on backward, of course), along with a dark pair of sunglasses. He just then seemed to notice Mario.

"Woah! Sorry, dude," he said quickly. "Didn't know you were busy chattin' it up with The Merle."

"Mario, allow me to introduce my acquaintance Ferdinand, and his friends," Merlon sighed. "They're always here paying me a visit. They say I'm the only one in Chronoside who can predict when the next 'gnarly ride' will be, as he puts it."

"It's true, man!" piped up a female Bumpty, giving Merlon a slap on the back. "Not even the weatherman can predict the waves like this dude can! We owe him, like, a _lot!_"

"Well, that's terrific," Mario muttered, "but we're kind of discussing something _important _with him right now. He was just about to tell us how to get to Golden Spur Ranch."

That seemed to get Ferdinand's attention.

"Dude! Golden Spur Ranch? Why the heck do you wanna go _there_, man?" he asked. "I mean, have you ever seen the place? It's all sand, and no surf! Total rip-off, man. The last time I went there, I was like – "

"Woah, woah!" Hanner cut him off. "You say you've _been _there before?"

"Well, sure I have. And lemme tell you, it was all – "

"Then _tell us how to get there_, stupid!!" Goomblaine bellowed at him. "Then we can stop wasting time hanging around this stinkhole!"

"I'll appreciate you not making fun of my abode while I'm here, thank you," Merlon said sternly. "Mario… the crystal has always had a mysterious way of revealing the future. If Ferdinand thinks he can show you the way to your destination, perhaps you were meant to follow him."

Mario shrugged. "Sure, I guess. But Ferdinand… you're _positive _you know how to get there?"

"Sure I am, dude! Why wouldn't I be? You can _totally_ trust me, can't you tell?"

Mario turned skeptically back to his partners. All of them raised an eyebrow, including Stubba, which looked particularly adorable.

"All right," he finally sighed. "It's not like we have any other options."

"That's the spirit, dude!!" Ferdinand cheered, sounding far too excited. He grabbed Mario by the arm and yanked him out the door, with his partners and the other Bumpty Boarders following close behind.

––

As Mario found himself being pulled across town by the overly eager Ferdinand, he quickly found out just how excitable the Bumpty surfer was. He practically babbled out his entire life story to the plumber, but particularly how he and his friends – whose names were Brody, Kane, Nico and Sheila – tended to frequent a far-off beach resort where the waves were famous.

"You should come visit sometime, man!" piped up Nico. "The tubular surfage over there is _most _satsifactory."

"Ferdinand's even got a killer plan in the works for us! We're gonna open up a surf shop there one day," Sheila chimed in.

Ferdinand wholeheartedly agreed. "It's gonna be the gnarliest, dude!" he said proudly. "We'll sell all kinds of boards and gear, man! Too bad that dream isn't quite a reality yet, though."

"Maybe because you're a dumb clown who fools around all the time instead of doin' anything useful," Goomblaine offered.

"Hey, now! Don't talk bad about Ferdie, little dude!" Brody admonished. "He's our leader, man! We'd never be the world-famous Bumpty Boarders without him!"

"BUMPTY BOARDERS FOREVER!!" all five of them shouted in unison, and they then broke out into a series of high-fives and hip bumps amongst each other.

Mario stared at them incredulously. "I wonder how hot it gets over at that beach resort," he said to himself.

Hanner looked at him. "How come?"

"Because I think they all have heat stroke."

"Here we are, dudes and dudette!" Ferdinand happily announced. Mario looked up and realized they had been led over to a dark, shady-looking area of town, certainly different from the picturesque streets and mosaics he was used to seeing around here.

He looked around suspiciously. "_This _is how we get to Golden Spur Ranch?"

"How come you know about this place?" asked Stubba.

"Well, most littlest of dudes, we found out about it from Merlon a while back," the Bumpty leader replied. "We told him we were looking for a place with lots of sand… most unfortunately, there wasn't any ocean to go with it! You get where I'm coming from, dudes?"

"Yeah, how awful for you," Goomblaine said with a roll of his eyes.

"Okay, my amigos! Check this out!" Ferdinand announced, blithely oblivious to Goomblaine's remark. Everyone stepped back as he started flapping his arms, and much to Mario's surprise, managed to rise several feet above the ground. He landed on a ledge far above their heads, something no one in Mario's group would have been able to reach, and Mario suddenly noticed a "!" Block up there he hadn't seen before.

Ferdinand jumped on the Block, and as he did, a papery backdrop fell away from in front of the group. Behind it was a Warp Pipe.

"Sweeeeeeeeet," droned the other Bumpty Boarders. Goomblaine smacked the one standing nearest to him.

"You are now cleared to enter Golden Spur Ranch, dudes!" Ferdinand said cheerfully. He jumped off the ledge and joined the others. "Just don't be too bummed over the total lack of surfage. Remember, I warned you."

"Yeah, we'll remember that," Mario assured him. "Good thing we didn't bring our boards along with us for nothing."

"Hey, are you guys gonna come with us?" Stubba asked eagerly. "'Cause we're saving the world! Maybe you guys could help!"

"_Don't _give them any ideas!!" Goomblaine hissed at the Clubba.

Ferdinand just chuckled. "Aw, that's real sweet of you dudes, but saving the world isn't really our M.O., if you know what I mean."

"We just like kicking back and enjoying the surf, man!" Sheila agreed.

"Well, thanks anyway," Mario said graciously, though he felt a little relieved. These guys didn't seem quite mature enough to be part of a world-saving endeavor.

"Well, we're heading back to the beach now. The ocean, she calls to us, man!" Ferdinand gave Mario a very hearty slap on the back, knocking the plumber over. "Good luck on your world-saving thing, most noblest of dudes! And remember, the Bumpty Boarders got your back 24-7, man! You just call us when you need us!"

"Bye, guys!" Stubba called as the surfers took off.

"Thanks, Ferdie!" Hanner said with a giggle.

"Fight the Man, dudes!" Ferdinand yelled back over his shoulder. The Bumpty Boarders continued waving back and shouting goodbyes at Mario's group until they had vanished into the crowd.

"What a load of nutcases," Goomblaine said distastefully. "Let's get out of here before they change their minds and come back."

"Now Goomblaine, even if they were a little out there, they helped us," Mario reminded him. "And I wouldn't be surprised if we needed them again sometime."

Hanner was jumping urgently up and down in front of the Warp Pipe. "Come on, guys, let's _go! _I wanna see some cowboys!! And buy a harmonica and watch a rodeo and get in a gunfight!!"

"Right, right. Okay guys, let's get to it!" said Mario. He jumped into the Warp Pipe, and his three partners quickly followed behind as they were transported away.

Their next adventure was about to begin…

**––––**

**A/N: **Woo, do I have a kickass Chapter 3 coming up for you guys. It seems to me the Paper Mario series is in dire need of a Wild West themed story arc, so I'm fixing that right now. And I'm pretty fricken excited about the next partner too. 8D


	17. Chapter 3, Part I

**Chapter 3:**

**War of the Wild West**

_**––**_

_**Golden Spur Ranch**_

_**10:00 am**_

Hanner was unable to contain her excitement as the group of four emerged from the Warp Pipe and arrived at their destination.

"Oh my gosh!! _Look _at this place, you guys! It's so _cool!!_" she gushed, scampering around joyfully. "It's just like I imagined! It's like we walked right into a movie!"

"Yeah, the most cliché movie in the world," Goomblaine sniffed.

Sure enough, Golden Spur Ranch was everything you would expect from an old Wild West town. There were rows of rickety wooden buildings lining either side of the unpaved, dusty street. Just from what they could see, there was a Saloon, a General Store, a blacksmith's, and a few houses as well. There were also a few hitching posts outside the buildings where people could bring their trusty steeds, which, from the looks of it, were Yoshis.

And of course, just about everybody was wearing a cowboy hat.

"Come on, you guys, let's go sightseeing!" Hanner cried urgently, tugging on Mario's wrist. "I wanna see the whole town! And get lots of pictures!"

"Hanner, _calm down _for a second," Mario said firmly, removing her hand. "Remember, the only reason we're here is to get clearance to Mustard Mines. We really don't have any time to waste."

"Uh, Mario… time doesn't move, remember?" the Hammer Sis joked. "We have all the time in the _world _to waste! Now hurry up, you guys!"

Mario was unable to stop Hanner as she dashed off down the street, looking absolutely thrilled. Having no choice, the other three followed after her, albeit at a walking pace. Stubba was looking around the town in interest, while Goomblaine, like always, looked like he could have cared less.

Hanner was racing along, laughing and cheering, when all of a sudden she skidded to a stop and backpedaled several steps. She stopped in front of a long, dark alley between two buildings, and her eyes grew wide.

"MARIOOOOO!!" she cried, jumping up and down to get his attention. "HURRY OVER HERE, QUICK QUICK QUICK!!"

Completely dumbfounded by her behavior, Mario dashed up to her and looked down the alley where she was pointing, still fidgeting in excitement.

"Ohhhh, I see it."

Hovering down at the end of the alley was a familiar-looking group of rainbow-colored sparkles.

Within moments, Mario had emerged from the alley holding the Luma in his hands, assuring it that they were about to bring it back home.

"And then I can get powered up too, right, Mario? _Finally!_" cheered Hanner, who was literally bouncing up and down around him. Goomblaine was looking even more ticked off at her than usual, if that was possible.

Walking up the street a little ways, they finally found the Star Pedestal just to the left of the entrance to the General Store. Just as the previous ones had done, the Luma leapt out of his hands and perched right on the pedestal, promising it would increase the power of one of Mario's partners out of thanks. Hanner eagerly stepped forward, and the Luma began twirling around until a shower of sparkles fell around her and engulfed her in light.

_Hanner was upgraded to Super Rank! She can now use Shrink Hammer to decrease enemies' size, dropping their attack power!_

"Aww… that's it?" she sighed as the Luma shot off into the sky. "No pinball power for me?"

"Personally, I think being able to shrink people is pretty cool," Mario offered.

"Yeah, I guess."

"All right, so we finally got _that _taken care of," Goomblaine said in a huff. "Now can we _please_ get outta Hicksville here before somebody busts out the dueling banjos?!"

"Aww, but I wanna see the whole town!" Stubba protested. "Hanner said it would be really cool."

Mario sighed. "Hanner, Stubba, I know you're excited and everything, but we didn't come here to go sightseeing. We have a job to do."

"Fine, then. _You _go to Mustard Mines. Stubba and I are gonna go buy some rock candy. Isn't that right?"

"_Yeah!!_" the little Clubba cheered as he and Hanner raced inside the store. Goomblaine just shook his head.

Much as Mario hated to admit it to himself, Golden Spur Ranch _was _looking more and more fun the longer he looked at it. Everybody seemed to be having a good time, and surely a place like this had plenty of things to do.

But he couldn't waste any time. There was a Sun Soul hidden out there somewhere, and it was his job to find it. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't goof off.

At least he told himself that until he noticed the corral.

"_Hoo-wee_, fellers!" came a raucous voice from the outer edge of town. "This has been one excitin' day, I'll give ya that! But still we ain't found one soul man enough to ride Dusty, the roughest, toughest steed this side a' Mustard Mines!"

Goomblaine squeezed his eyes shut. "_Who's _makin' all that racket?"

Curious, Mario looked down the adjacent road that led away from the main street and off to a barren patch of land on the outskirts of the town. There was a large group of people standing outside a circular wooden fence, and standing _inside _of it was a very large, ferocious-looking red Yoshi with a saddle on his back.

"Come on, folks, don't tell me yer all chicken!" shouted the announcer, a denim-colored Bob-omb wearing an oversized cowboy hat. "There's gotta be _one _feller here who can give ol' Dusty a run fer his money!"

"I'll go easy on ya, I promise!" the Yoshi laughed jovially.

Mario blinked. "Huh… looks like they're having a rodeo or something."

Right on cue, Hanner and Stubba came barging out of the store, already with their faces smeared with sugar.

"Did you say _rodeo?!_" Hanner shrilled. "LET'S GO, GUYS!!!"

She took off like a rocket over to the corral, with Mario, Goomblaine and Stubba struggling to keep up with her. She shoved a group of observing spectators out of the way to get a front-row view as a very tough-looking Toad clambered onto Dusty's back.

"Now, you know the rules of the rodeo, folks! This feller's gotta stay on Dusty for eight whole seconds!" the Bob-omb announced as Mario, Goomblaine and Stubba shoved their way up next to Hanner. "Think ya can handle it, partner?"

"You kiddin'?" chuckled the Toad. "I rode tougher steeds then this back when I was a cloud a' spores!"

Hanner blinked. "Uh… Mario… that's not _really _how Toads reproduce, is it?"

"No, Hanner, that's just an expression. At least, I'm pretty sure it is."

"All right, you varmint, let's see what ya got!" said the Toad, digging his spurs into Dusty's flank. "GIDDYA – _WAAAAAAUGHH!!!_"

He managed to hold on for about three seconds before the ferocious bucking Yoshi sent him flying off, crashing into the crowd and bowling several people over. Everyone else groaned.

"…Maybe front row seats weren't such a good idea," Hanner decided.

"Aw, what a shame, folks," the Bob-omb sighed. "Come on now, ol' Dusty's gettin' bored over here! There's gotta be _somebody _here worthy a' this magnificent steed!"

Mario failed to notice Stubba's eyes growing wide in fascination until it was too late.

"I'll do it!!" the little Clubba shouted, climbing over the fence and racing over to the Yoshi.

Mario did a double take. "Stubba?! Stubba!! Get back over here right now!!"

"Well, looky here, fellers!" the Bob-omb laughed. "You really think you can ride Dusty here for eight whole seconds, little partner?"

"You bet I can!"

"Sir! He's just a kid!!" Mario cried desperately, but nobody seemed to hear him.

"Stubba, _don't!!_" Hanner pleaded.

"Well, this oughta be interesting," Goomblaine said smugly. Hanner glowered at him and whacked him with her hammer.

"Hmm… you sure about this, kid? I ain't no minor leaguer, you know," Dusty warned Stubba as he struggled to climb onto his back.

"Don't worry! I'm not scared!"

"Well, okay then…" Dusty gave a shrug, and then, without a warning, he threw himself into the air, bucking and flailing wildly.

"I can't watch! I'm going to be sued for child endangerment!!" Mario wailed, covering his eyes.

Hanner and Goomblaine, on the other hand, were staring in interest. "Mario… I think you do wanna watch this," said the Hammer Sis.

"Huh?" Mario uncovered his eyes in time to see Dusty racing around the outer edge of the corral, snorting like a stallion and throwing up a cloud of dust as he kicked the air again and again. But Stubba was still holding on, and he was _laughing._

"WEEEEEEEEE!!" he cheered.

"Dang, folks! We got us a miracle! That was eight seconds already!" the Bob-omb gawked.

"Oh, I ain't done here yet," Dusty growled, refusing to be outdone. Suddenly he began kicking twice as hard as hard as before, jumping even higher and racing around even faster. He twisted madly around, frantically trying to throw the little Clubba off. But still Stubba clung on, bouncing up and down in the saddle and having the time of his short little life.

"…I don't _believe _this!" Mario exclaimed.

"We're not gonna tell his parents about this, are we?" asked Hanner.

Finally, poor Dusty looked too exhausted to even stand anymore. He stopped bucking and slowed to a stop, staggering around for a few seconds before collapsing onto the ground. His Yoshi-length tongue lolled out of his mouth, and he groaned.

"Aww… is it over already?" Stubba sighed, climbing off.

"Folks, I don't believe what I'm seein' here!" the Bob-omb cried. "Ain't nobody has _ever _outlasted ol' Dusty before! This little cowpoke just _shattered _the town record!!"

"I did? Yay!" cheered Stubba.

"Let's hear it for 'im, folks! The newest legend a' Golden Spur Ranch!!" shouted the Bob-omb, and everyone in the crowd burst into a deafening round of cheers, whistles, and applause.

"I think _you _should tell his parents," Mario muttered to Hanner.

––

"Okay, _now _have we wasted enough time around here?" Goomblaine demanded some time later. "Seriously, what happened to no sightseeing?!"

"I think Goomblaine's right, you guys. We've had enough fun for one day," Mario sighed, carefully fingering the Power Plus Badge that Stubba had won from the rodeo. "If we have time after we get the Sun Soul, we'll come back. Now we should focus on getting to Mustard Mines."

"Hmm… well, I'm guessing we have to talk to that guy," Hanner decided, pointing directly ahead.

Mario looked. The four of them had been walking up the main street towards the far end of town, in the direction they thought would lead them to the mines. Now they found themselves looking at a large wooden archway with a pair of horseshoes hanging decoratively from it. Below that was a metal gate with a Craw standing in front of it.

"Oh, just perfect. _Another _gatekeeper?!" Goomblaine growled. "The first one was annoying enough."

Hanner scowled and whacked him a second time.

"Well, Mario, maybe if we explain our situation to him, he'll want to join us too," she offered half-jokingly.

"Hmm, I doubt it. I don't think the universe likes me _that _much."

Nonetheless, the four of them walked over to the gatekeeper, who had apparently traded in his standard-issue spear for a small gun he had in his holster. He raised an eyebrow at them as they approached.

"What can I do you gents for?" he asked suspiciously.

"Well, actually, we were hoping to get to Mustard Mines, if that's all right," Mario explained. "This is the way over there, isn't it?"

"Sure as yer born, it is." He shifted his stance, standing squarely in front of the gate. "And sure as yer born, you fellers _ain't _goin' over there."

Mario rolled his eyes. Somehow he'd predicted this.

"Aww, come on! How come?" asked Stubba.

"How come? Mustard Mines is private property, that's how come! And you folks look like you just blew into town. You could be _all _types a' suspicious, for all I know."

"Oh, come on. If we were planning on doing something suspicious, we'd be more _subtle _about it," Hanner assured him.

"I didn't think you knew what _subtle _meant," Goomblaine scoffed, quickly ducking to avoid being whacked a third time.

"What my friends are trying to say is, we're looking for something really important over there," Mario said apologetically. "It would really be in the whole town's best interest if you let us go."

"Uh huh." The gatekeeper didn't look at all convinced. "Well if yer really so dead set on goin', partner, I'll tell ya this much. You can't get through here without the sheriff's permission. You find him and he gives you the okay, I guess I'll let you pass."

"Perfect. Thanks so much," Mario said graciously as the gatekeeper pointed them in the direction of the sheriff's office.

"If _that _guy didn't let us go, what makes you think the sheriff will?" Goomblaine grumbled as they headed over.

"As always, Goomblaine, we really don't have any other choice. Anyway, I'm sure he'll be reasonable and at least hear us out."

Unfortunately, they didn't end up quite so lucky. Mario rapped on the door, and there was no answer. He frowned, knocked again, and still nothing. Finally he tried to open the door himself, only to find it was locked fast.

"Just perfect," said Goomblaine.

"Not a very responsible guy, is he?" Hanner remarked.

Not knowing what else to do, the foursome walked back over to the gate. Predictably, the gatekeeper didn't look too pleased to see them again.

"The sheriff's not even there, genius. It's locked," Goomblaine announced.

The gatekeeper actually looked surprised. "Ain't he there?" he wondered. "Boy, I just saw that feller a few minutes ago. Well, I reckon he's just off doin' rounds or some such. He'll be back eventually."

"Well, we really don't have time to wait around to get his permission," Mario implored. "Can't we just _not_, and _say _we did?"

The gatekeeper looked between the four of them, whose expressions ranged from pleading to completely apathetic.

"Look," he finally sighed. "You folks seem nice enough, but rules is rules. I gotta stay here and guard this here gate, and that's a fact. And I don't reckon the sheriff would take it too kindly if I shirked off on my job just for you fellers."

"Is he really strict?" asked Hanner.

"Oh, I tell ya that feller's _married _to the law. An iron fist of justice, he is."

Stubba frowned. "He sounds mean."

"Ah, he's tough but fair. So long as you stay on his good side. But anyway, my point still stands. You ain't got his permission, I ain't movin' from this gate."

"All right… thanks anyway," Mario sighed, finally admitting defeat. He turned and walked away from the gate, his partners following after him.

"This has _always _gotta happen to us," Goomblaine griped. "Just what are we supposed to do now?!"

"Ah, quit worrying so much," said Hanner. "I'm sure we can think of some other way to get past that guy."

"I could maybe break the gate open, Mario!" Stubba said helpfully, holding up his club.

Mario smiled. "Thanks, Stubba, but I'd rather not do anything that's going to get us in trouble. Especially if the sheriff is really that strict. We'd better just wait for him to show up."

––

To make a long story short, he didn't show up.

"All right, this is getting ridiculous," Mario decided. "Nobody in town seems to know where he is. I'm going to stop by in the Saloon and see if I can get any info."

"Ah, just like in the movies," Hanner said with relish. "Getting info from suspicious characters in a shady old saloon."

"Right. Which is exactly why I need _you _three to stay out here."

Hanner frowned. "Aww, c'mon! That's no fun!"

"I'm serious, Hanner. It might not be safe in there. You guys just wait here until I come back out. Hopefully I won't be long."

"Oh, fine," the Hammer Sis sighed, with Stubba looking equally disappointed. Mario meant what he said, though; just from passing by the place, the Saloon didn't seem nearly as friendly as the rest of the town.

Without his partners, Mario walked across the street over to the Saloon. He took a deep breath in front of the entrance, then pushed open the swinging wooden doors and walked inside.

The first thing he was aware of was how dark it was. And smoky. The only source of light was a dimly lit chandelier on the ceiling, which he only noticed after he had finished coughing.

As soon as his eyes adjusted to the dimness, he saw that the Saloon was full of circular tables, around which many gruff-looking guys were gathered with hands full of playing cards. There was a bar with several stools lined up, with a grumpy-looking Toad doling out drinks. Far in the back corner, a Doogan in a barbershop outfit was pounding on an old honky-tonk piano.

Mario gulped. Already he was starting to feel like this was a mistake.

Very aware of the numerous pairs of eyes that were following him, he anxiously walked across the Saloon over to the bar and slid onto one of the barstools. The bartender narrowed his eyes at the plumber.

What was he thinking? If anyone in here knew about the sheriff, they weren't the types who were going to tell it to him.

"Well, hey there," crooned a female voice from next to him. Startled, Mario jumped and found himself looking at a female Toad with a lot of makeup on. She was wearing a tight-fitting red dress with black lace and had a few feathers sticking out of her cap.

"Uh… hi," Mario muttered, turning away to look at the table.

"What's a fine feller like you doin' in here all alone?" she persisted. "My name's Fleur T. Why don't you buy me a nice Super Soda, huh?"

"Uh, I'm sorry, but I'm not here for anything like that," Mario replied shortly. "I'm just trying to meet the sheriff."

Fleur T. snorted. "Well, he ain't in here, that's for sure. He's been tryin' to shut this place down. Thinks it's bad for the town's image, or some bull."

"Well, can you at least tell me where I can find him?" Mario asked in exasperation.

In response, Fleur grabbed the shocked Mario by his overalls and pulled him over to a nearby table, where a group of other Toads and Bob-ombs were in the middle of a heated card game. They all looked up and raised their eyebrows at the sight of the flustered plumber.

"This feller here says he wants to meet the sheriff," she told them. "You nice boys can help him out, right?"

The card players all looked between each other and snickered. Mario began to wish he were somewhere very far away.

"Sure, partner, we might could tell ya how to meet the sheriff," said the Toad dealer, who was sitting on the opposite side of the rectangular table from the others. "What say you play us in a little card game? If y'all beat us, we'll tell ya whatever you want."

"Fine," Mario groaned, deciding he'd gone in too deep to get out of this now. He pulled up a chair and sat between two of the players.

"The game is Faro, gentlemen," the dealer announced, shuffling all the cards. "I trust y'all are familiar with that game?"

"I'll figure it out…"

"Oooh, Mario! Are you playing Crazy Eights?"

Mario briefly glanced over his shoulder, then did a double take and spun around. Goomblaine, Hanner and Stubba were all standing innocently behind him.

"What the – you guys! What are you doing? You are all three too young to be in here!"

"Sorry, Mario. But Stubba had to go to the bathroom," Hanner said apologetically.

"Mario, I gotta peeeeeeeee," whined the little Clubba.

"Oh, fine. I think there's a bathroom back there," Mario sighed, waving them off toward the back of the Saloon. The three of them immediately took off.

As the game of Faro got under way, Mario slowly but surely got the hang of the rules. There were pictures of thirteen cards on the table, one Spade of every rank, and the players would bet on one or more cards by sliding a stack of Coins next to it. The dealer then discarded the top card in the deck and revealed the next card, or "losing card". Regardless of what suit it was, he collected all bets that had been placed on that same rank. He then drew the next card, or "winning card", and paid out all bets that had been placed on that rank. Then it started over, with a new round of bets being placed. It was simple but fast-paced, and Mario counted himself lucky that he'd come with a lot of Coins. He wasn't so good at card games.

"So why're you so intent on meetin' the sheriff anyway, greenhorn?" the dealer asked Mario some time later. "I don't reckon he has time to waste on the likes a' you."

It had come to the crucial point of the game; there were only three cards left in the deck, and the players were betting on the order in which they would be drawn. If anyone guessed correctly, the payout would be fantastic.

"I just need his permission to go to Mustard Mines," Mario replied curtly. "You probably wouldn't understand why. I only even need to talk to him for about two minutes."

"Which is likely two minutes more than he's willin' to give," the Bob-omb seated next to him remarked. "A no-name drifter like yerself wantin' to go to Mustard Mines for no good reason? Not a chance."

Mario shook his head as he slid a stack of Coins onto the table, deciding it was best not to argue. "Look, I want to make a good impression with him. If you won't tell me where he is, can you at least tell me what he's like?"

"Well, I can tell ya he single-handedly cleaned up the crime in this here town," the dealer replied in a warning voice. "He's a dangerous man if yer on the wrong side of the law."

"Yeah, I kind of got that impression already. But I swear I'm not planning on doing anything illegal. I just – "

"Yeah, sure you ain't. Now are you gonna call it or what?"

"Huh?" Mario realized they were waiting for him to guess on the order. "Uh… Seven, Nine, Four?"

The dealer nodded, and all the players leaned forward and watched with bated breath as he slowly and dramatically reached for the three remaining cards. Mario's heart was pounding in his ears. He had far more at stake here than anyone else.

With one flick of the wrist, he flipped the cards over. They were the Seven of Clubs, the Nine of Diamonds, and the Four of Hearts.

The dealer blinked. "Well, whaddaya know."

"I - I won?" Mario exclaimed. "Ha! I won! Terrific!!" He laughed in relief as the other players started muttering. "I don't believe it! I never win at cards! All right, now can you guys tell me – "

"_Wait a minute!!_"

Mario froze. The dealer was bristling in rage as he reached down and picked up the Seven of Clubs. There was a hole punched right in the center Club.

"Uh… what's the matter?"

"You dirty _cheater!!_" The dealer slammed the card back down on the table. "So that's how you guessed it!"

Mario was freaking out. "_What?! _It wasn't me!! I don't even get how this game works!"

"I knew there was somethin' shady about you!!" the dealer roared accusingly. To Mario's horror, he suddenly wound up and swung his fist directly at the plumber. Mario yelped and ducked out of the way at the last instant…

And the dealer hit the Bob-omb standing directly behind him.

"WHAT THE – watch where you're swingin' that thing!!" the injured Bob-omb bellowed, lighting his fuse and throwing himself at the dealer. At least he tried, but the dealer quickly sidestepped him and caused his attacker to collide with a random Goomba who'd been walking by. The Bob-omb exploded and sent both of them tumbling head over heels across the floor and crashing into the leg of a nearby table, overturning the whole thing and sending the drinks, cards and Coins flying across the room.

"HEY!! You'll pay for that!!" shouted someone who'd been sitting at the table, charging at them in a rage. The others at the table were so furious at losing their prospective earnings that they started swinging empty bottles around, bashing anyone who got to close –

And the next thing Mario knew, he was caught up in a barroom brawl.

"SOMEBODY GET ME OUT OF HERE!!" he screamed, ducking under a table and covering his head. All around him, people were throwing punches and smashing bottles – and exploding, in the case of the Bob-ombs – and all the furniture was being jostled violently around as people continuously crashed into it. The angry shouts filling the smoky air were so loud Mario couldn't even hear himself think.

The pianist in the corner noticed this happening, and rather than doing something useful, he began pounding out a much faster, more frantic tune that fit better with what was going on.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Mario groaned.

Several of the Saloon goers, including Fleur T., were crowded off in a corner of the room, looking utterly terrified.

"Not this _again!!_"

"What'll we do?!"

"Somebody get the sheriff, quick!!"

Mario's blood froze when he heard that. "No – _don't!!_" he shouted pleadingly. The last thing he needed was for the sheriff to catch him in the middle of something like this. He had to get out of here before it was too late.

Finally Goomblaine, Hanner and Stubba, alerted by all the noise, came racing back from the bathroom area and surveyed the scene. Stubba gasped and clung to Hanner in fright.

"What the heck is going _on?_" Hanner cried.

"Who cares? It's awesome!" Goomblaine laughed, and faster than you could say "Headbonk" he had thrown himself at the nearest Saloon patron.

"GOOMBLAINE, YOU BLOCKHEAD!!!" Hanner screamed, and within seconds she and Stubba were enveloped by the brawl.

"Oh no – guys!!" Mario shouted, leaping to his feet and attempting to run to their aid. It didn't work out, though, as he was instantly swept up in the flurry of punches and throws surrounding him on all sides. He whipped around in fear as he felt himself being shoved back and forth, tossed helplessly around, his frantic shouts drowned out by the sounds of shattering glass and fists connecting with faces, no longer with any idea of where he was or what was happening –

And then came the sound of the Saloon doors slamming open.

Everyone froze.

From where he abruptly found himself sprawled on the ground in an uncomfortable position, facing away from the door, Mario started to panic. Everyone (including the pianist) had immediately stopped what they were doing and had cautiously turned to face the noise. Even his partners seemed to have forgotten they were in a fight and were now staring at the doorway in wide-eyed fright.

_This can't possibly be good._

Though he knew who it must be, Mario ever so slowly turned his head and followed their gaze, looking up at the person who was now standing in the doorway.

Whoever he was, he was definitely the sheriff – that much was obvious by his star-shaped badge, the critical gaze he cast over the room, and the way the entire Saloon had fallen quiet at the sight of him. But he was the very last species Mario had expected him to be.

"_What _in _tarnation _is goin' on in here?!"

Mario was looking at a Bandit.


	18. Chapter 3, Part II

**A/N: **I always look forward to updates when Mario gets a new partner… enjoy.

_**––––**_

_**Golden Spur Ranch**_

_**10:00 am**_

"Well, this majorly stinks."

Mario, Goomblaine, Hanner and Stubba were all sitting in a small jail cell that was part of the building complex that also contained the sheriff's office. The others at the Saloon had been very quick to point out Mario as the instigator of the brawl, and despite how much he had protested to the contrary, the sheriff had thrown him and his friends in the cell fast enough to make the plumber's head spin.

"Things can't ever go easily for us, can they?" Mario sighed, staring at the ceiling. Goomblaine was pacing back and forth in agitation, Hanner was gazing at her shoes, and Stubba was crying.

"But I don't _wanna _be in jail!" he sobbed helplessly. "I don't _wanna _be a bad guy!"

Thankfully, Hanner knew just what to say. "Stubba, you're _not _a bad guy," she assured him. "Sometimes, good guys get thrown in jail because the person who put them _in _there is bad."

That seemed to calm him down a little. "Really? So you mean that sheriff guy is bad?"

"Yeah! And once we get out of here, we're kicking his butt!"

"You mean _after _we get his permission to go the mines," Mario sighed, although that was seeming like an increasingly unlikely prospect. "I'd rather not get on his bad side any more than we already are."

"I just can't believe he's a Bandit," Hanner remarked. "I mean, don't they usually _break _the law? That's the craziest thing I've ever seen."

"I've seen a Cheep-Cheep blimp conductor," Mario said offhandedly.

Hanner rolled her eyes. "Oh, please, Mario. There's tons of those."

Mario blinked. "There are?"

"All right that's _it!!_" Goomblaine suddenly snapped, spinning around to face them. "I'm sick of all this yappin'! Can we get outta here or can't we?!"

"I don't know, Goomblaine. I'm open to any ideas…"

Mario trailed off as he felt his eyes being drawn to the corner of the cell. There was a rather large crack in the wall that he hadn't noticed before.

"Hmm…" He got up and walked over to it, looking intrigued. "Hey Stubba, come over here a second."

The Clubba obediently came up to him, and he pointed at the crack. "Do you think you can break the wall with your club right here?"

"Huh? Oh, sure, Mario!"

Mario stepped back as Stubba braced himself, then bashed the wall with all his strength. He immediately burst a small hole in the wall as it crumbled away, throwing up a cloud of dust.

"Hah! Terrific!" Hanner cheered as Stubba looked proud of himself. "Freedom, here we come!"

"Just remember, guys, be quiet," Mario warned them as they all crowded around the hole. "We don't want to get caught."

One by one, they filed through the hole and came out in a hallway on the other side. There were only a few doors, and thankfully, it was deserted apart from the four of them.

"All right, now if I remember right, that door at the end leads back outside," Mario decided. "Now guys, listen. After that debacle the sheriff isn't going to listen to a thing we say, so I think the best thing to do would be to get out of here as fast as we can and get over to Mustard Mines on our own."

"How do we do _that?_" asked Hanner.

"Hey, I'm Super Mario, remember? We'll think of something."

And so the four of them sneaked down the hallway as quietly as they could, although there didn't seem to be much need. They were fortunate enough not to run into anybody else. Mario realized that breaking out of jail had been easier than he'd expected.

_Our luck might finally be turning around,_ he thought hopefully.

"Awesome! We made it!" Hanner said in relief, breaking the silence as they finally reached the door at the far end.

"All right guys, let's hurry!" said Mario, yanking the door open and ushering Goomblaine and Stubba through. He immediately followed after them – and stopped dead.

"This is great! _Nobody _stops Team Mario!" Hanner gloated as she walked in after them. "Especially not some dumb Bandit and his dumb – aw crap."

They weren't outside. They had barged directly into the sheriff's office, and the sheriff himself was sitting at his desk.

He did not look very happy to see them.

"WHAT IN BLAZES?!" he bellowed, slamming his hands down on the desk and jumping to his feet. "Y'all are those no-good, brawl-startin' varmints I just had locked up! You tellin' me you busted out?!"

"Sure looks like it, doesn't it?" Goomblaine said sarcastically, narrowly dodging another whack from Hanner.

Mario, on the other hand, was taking this opportunity to get a good look at the sheriff. He had seen blue, red, green, even purple Bandits before, but this one was orange, which he was pretty sure was a first. He had on a brown cowboy hat and a matching vest, on which was pinned his immaculately polished sheriff's badge. A coiled length of rope was hanging at his side, and sticking from his mouth was a long stalk of wheat. He was also glaring at them rather threateningly.

Well, as long as their cover was blown, the only thing to do was to try and reason with him.

"Uh… all right, listen," Mario said uneasily, starting to sweat and backing away. "We're sorry about coming in here. We didn't mean to bother you. It's just… we _really _had to get out of that cell. There's been a big misunderstanding."

"Oh, I reckon there's been a misunderstandin' – on _your _end!" the sheriff growled, marching forward and prodding Mario in the chest. "D'you fellers even realize what you've done? Ain't no one has _ever _busted outta prison under the watch of Sheriff Snatchel before!!"

"Sheriff who?" asked Mario before it dawned on him. "Oh wait… that's your name?"

"Yer darn right it is! Not that that's any business of yours, you common criminals!"

"Criminals? Look who's talking! You're a _Bandit!_" Goomblaine scoffed at him.

Mario smacked himself in the forehead. That was very clearly the wrong thing to say, as Snatchel immediately narrowed his eyes dangerously at the Goomba.

"That's not what he meant," Mario cut in. "What he meant was – I mean, we just thought it was interesting that you're the sheriff… you know, since you are a Bandit and everything."

That didn't seem to make things much better. "Don't ya think I get enough flak for that already?" Snatchel said impatiently. "So I'd rather enforce the law than break it! That ain't a crime! As a matter a' fact, it's by definition the OPPOSITE of a crime!!"

"Okay, okay, let's everybody calm down," Hanner said quickly, sensing things were flying out of control. "Look, Mister Sheriff Snatchel, sir. We're really sorry about the whole thing at the Saloon, but that totally wasn't our fault. In fact, the only reason we're here in town is because we wanted to talk to you."

"Yeah, she's right," Mario joined in. "We need to go over to Mustard Mines, and we were told you're the one to talk to about that."

Snatchel just folded his arms. "You really think I'm that thick, do ya?" he remarked. "Mustard Mines? I ain't lettin' just anybody go over there! Especially with what's been goin' on lately!"

"What's been going on?" Stubba asked curiously.

"Oh, don't act like you don't know! Yer probably in _league _with those sidewinders! I'll admit you don't seem smart enough to be in their gang, but still."

"Who are you talking about?" Mario demanded, ignoring the insult. "Look, we just got here today, and we have no idea what's going on here."

The sheriff looked impatiently at him. "All right, fine. I'll play yer little game."

He reached for a paper on his desk and held it out. Mario and his partners crowded around it and realized it was a wanted poster. The picture on it was that of a sinister-looking Little Mouser with a cowboy hat and a black mask over his eyes.

"Who's that?" asked Stubba.

"That's just one of 'em. The Mouser Gang is the worst bunch a' thieves and scoundrels I ever had to deal with. And I just got word not too long ago that they took over Mustard Mines. They're lootin' all the town's gold outta there, and they're roughin' up anybody who gets in their way. Ain't no one has been able to stop 'em yet."

"Gee whiz, that's terrible," Hanner said sympathetically.

"But why am I tellin' _you _this? You probably know all about it!" Snatchel growled, throwing the poster onto the floor. "Why else would a bunch of shady fellers like you be wantin' to go over there in the first place? Yer their spies, ain't ya?! Just fess up!!"

"We are _nobody's _spies," Mario said firmly. "We've never even heard of these guys before. The reason we have to get over there has nothing to do with them. In fact, if you let us go, we could get rid of them for you."

"Right. Then you mind tellin' me just what _is _so important over there?"

"This has got nothing to do with you. You wouldn't get it," Goomblaine said firmly.

Mario nodded. "You probably wouldn't. This only concerns me and my friends. Just know we have to get over there fast if we want to get time to actually start moving normally again, and we can't have – "

"_Mario!!_" Hanner cried, and when he heard his own words he realized too late the mistake he'd made. His hands flew to his mouth.

He'd just blurted everything out to the sheriff! Like he'd ever believe the truth about what was going on! Not only would he have _no_ idea what Mario was talking about, now the plumber sounded like he was completely crazy. He'd just blown their chance of getting to the mines once and for all.

"I – I mean – forget what I said about time not moving normally," he said quickly. Goomblaine groaned and looked ready to smack him.

Much to Mario's surprise, though, Snatchel did nothing but stare at him in shock.

"Oh, _no_," he groaned to himself. "You gotta be jokin' me! You just _gotta _be!!" He threw his arms up in the air. "This is plumb _ridiculous!! _D'you have _any _idea how much of an idiot I look like right now?!"

"Not really," Hanner said in confusion.

"What's the matter?" Stubba asked timidly.

"I'll tell ya what's the matter! First a bunch a' no-accounts comes blowin' right into town, startin' up a brawl right under my nose; _then _they somehow bust outta jail and try to feed me some bull-honkey about wantin' to go to Mustard Mines for some _perfectly innocent _reason – and _now _I'm actually forced to consider the veracity of their statement, on account a' they're the _only _ones in this whole town, apart from yours truly, who seem to realize there's somethin' _weird _about it always bein' THE SAME DANG TIME A' DAY!!!" he raged. "I've been askin' folks what they think about the sun bein' all frozen and whatnot, and they're lookin' at me like I'm some kinda nutter! What am I supposed to make outta – what the heck is wrong with you?"

Mario's jaw had dropped open halfway through the sheriff's rant. He turned to stare at his partners, who were all looking equally shocked, as a silent understanding passed between all of them. Even Stubba seemed to realize what this meant…

"You mean you… you remember Day and Night and all that?" Mario warily asked him.

"Don't you be gettin' all loopy on me too," Snatchel grumbled. He sighed to himself, massaging his head before turning back to them. "All right. You fellers know what's goin' on with the sun, and why it ain't never nighttime around here no more?"

Mario nodded very slowly. "Yeah… and we're trying to fix it. That's why we're going to Mustard Mines…"

Snatchel nodded much more firmly, seeming to make up his mind. "All right then, here's the deal. I'll let ya go to the mines, on one condition. I'm comin' with ya."

That shouldn't have surprised Mario, but it did.

"You? But – why?"

"Well fer one, it's high time somebody took care a' that Mouser Gang, and it seems like I'm the one to do it. And seein' how I still don't particularly trust any a' you fellers, I'm comin' with to keep an eye on ya. I ain't lettin' you outta my sight so long as yer over there," he said sternly. "And anyway, if y'all really are tellin' the truth and are goin' over there for some noble purpose – well then, I figure there ain't nobody gonna bother ya if yer gettin' an escort from the sheriff himself, don't you reckon?"

"Uh…"

"I'm guessing we don't get a say in this," Goomblaine grumbled.

Snatchel frowned at him. "No, you don't! I'm comin' whether you like it or not! So I _suggest _we get a move on!"

And with that, he grabbed Mario by the overalls and hauled him out the door, leaving the plumber to wonder just what he'd gotten himself into now.

_**Snatchel Joined Mario's Party!**_

_Sheriff Snatchel is a gritty, no-nonsense Bandit cowboy who upholds the law at any cost, although his most useful ability may conflict with his moral code. He has an inborn talent for finding any nearby items, even if they're hidden or invisible, and he can use his lasso to grab them immediately. In battle, he can use his Grab Dash attack to damage an enemy AND steal its held item, or use Lasso to rope one enemy and throw it out of the fight._

––

Now that they knew they would have to deal with a notorious gang of thieves in order to rescue the Sun Soul, Mario's team decided they'd better stock up on supplies before they left. They stopped by the General Store and everyone emptied their pockets buying items they thought would be useful – everyone except Snatchel, anyway. He just leaned against the doorway with his arms folded, never once taking his eyes off of them.

He clearly didn't consider himself to be part of their group, just someone who was watching them to make sure they didn't try anything funny.

"Y'know Mario, we're gonna have to tell him eventually," said Hanner as she noticed the plumber glancing over at him.

"You mean that he's just become the incarnation of one of twelve time-warping deities from a higher realm of existence?" asked Mario. "Somehow, I don't think he'll buy it. Especially coming from _us_."

"But we are gonna tell him about the Sun Soul, right Mario?" Stubba piped up. "Maybe we could show him ours! Then he'll believe us and he'll know we're not bad!"

"Yeah, it'd probably help our credibility if we actually told him what it is we're _looking _for," Hanner agreed.

Mario sighed, leaning against the counter. "It's not that simple, you guys. If he trusted us a little more, maybe he'd believe us. But the way things stand, we're going to have to win him over before we can tell him anything. I know _I _wouldn't believe it if I were him."

Hanner and Stubba looked uneasily at each other, then followed after Mario as he gathered up his stuff and trudged over to the door.

He was really starting to miss the days when his partners joined him just because they liked him, no strings attached.

As they left the store, Mario noticed that Snatchel was now standing outside and talking intently to somebody else. This newcomer looked something like a Little Mouser himself, but was slightly taller and more humanoid. Mario recognized him as a Rat Funk, something he hadn't seen in quite a while.

"Who's this?" he asked as he walked over.

"This here's my deputy, Bronson," Snatchel replied. "I was just tellin' him how I gotta take a leave over to the mines for a while. He's in charge until I get back."

"You sure you wanna leave, Sheriff?" Bronson asked cautiously. "I don't reckon I can handle things over here as well as you."

"Aw, don't you worry about that. I trust you, and anyway, I'm gonna send those Mousers packin' faster than a tumbleweed in a twister. I'll be back before you know it."

"Well, if you say so," the deputy agreed, noticed Mario and doffing his hat to him. "Good luck out there, partner. The desert ain't a safe place. And don't be givin' the sheriff any trouble."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Mario replied in utter seriousness.

With nothing else to take care of, the newly expanded party headed back over to the gate that would lead out of town. The gatekeeper was still standing there idly, and you can imagine his surprise when he noticed the sheriff leading the same annoying group from before straight over to him.

"Oh – Sheriff, sir!" he exclaimed, straightening up as quickly as he could. "Is there a problem with these folks? They had some dang fool idea in their heads about goin' to the mines, and I told 'em it weren't allowed! Whatever they did, I swear it ain't my fault! I ain't – "

"Oh calm down already, would ya? I know about all that," Snatchel replied shortly. "We already had a talk about them wantin' to go to the mines."

The gatekeeper looked relieved. "Oh, you did! Perfect! I'm sorry they bothered ya, sir, but somebody had to set 'em straight, and there ain't nobody better than you. I mean everybody knows that place is off limits, which I was tryin' to explain, but they just – "

"As I was _sayin'_, I'm takin' 'em there myself."

The gatekeeper was stunned. "Wait – _what?! _Y'mean – yer actually lettin' 'em go?! And yer goin' _with _'em?!"

"That's right. I'm goin' over there to lay a beatdown on that good-fer-nothin' Mouser Gang, like I should've done a long time ago, and this Mario feller says he's willin' to help."

The gatekeeper stared incredulously at Mario, who grinned sheepishly in reply.

"Uh… you _sure _that's a good idea, sir?"

"Don't you worry about me, I got it all under control. So why don't you open that gate for us?"

All of a sudden, the gatekeeper was looking even more uneasy than before. He started fiddling nervously with his hands, unable to look Snatchel in the eye any longer.

"Well, uh… the thing about that, sir," he admitted. "There was one other reason why I didn't let those fellers go. Y'see, I, uh… I kinda ain't got the key anymore."

Snatchel blinked. "Come again?"

"Yeah… I may've somehow dropped it on the other side of the gate." The gatekeeper shuffled out of the way, pointing through the bars. Sure enough, there was a large rusty key sitting in the dirt several feet away, well out of arm's reach.

Snatchel turned to the gatekeeper in disbelief. "How the heck did ya manage _that?!_" he demanded. "You plumb idjit! What am I hirin' you for, anyway? What if this were an emergency?"

"Does this mean we can't go?" Stubba asked in concern.

"Now, nobody said _that_," the sheriff replied. After studying the key closely for a moment, he reached for the lariat at his side. "I reckon I can take care of this. Mario, maybe it's time I showed ya what I can do, huh?"

Mario and his other partners watched intently as Snatchel started twirling the lasso for a moment, then shot it between the bars of the gate. The noose tightened around the key and he yanked it back through the gate, catching it right out of the air.

"_Woah! _Awesome!" Hanner cheered, starting to clap.

"That was cool!" Stubba agreed. Goomblaine didn't look too impressed.

"Yeah, I can nab just about anythin' with this here rope," Snatchel said with a shrug, unlocking the gate. "If ya think that'd ever be useful to you, just ask."

"Thanks. I'll remember that," Mario promised, walking through the gate as the sheriff pushed it open. His other partners quickly followed after him.

"I'll be back soon, with any luck. And in the _meantime – _" Snatchel shoved the key back into the gatekeeper's hands. "Can I trust that hangin' onto a little hunk a' metal is not too difficult for you?"

"Uh… I…"

The gatekeeper looked completely flustered and embarrassed, and as Snatchel rolled his eyes and walked off, Mario couldn't help but laugh.

Maybe having him around wouldn't be so bad after all.

_**––**_

_**Mustard Trail**_

_**10:19 am**_

As the group left town, they began following the trail through a barren desert area. It was featureless except for a few cacti and dried-up shrubs here and there, although as they quickly found out, there were also some new enemies to be found.

"Uh oh… what are those things?" asked Hanner as they noticed a group of spiky balls rolling toward them at a breakneck pace. They looked sort of like curled-up Spinies, but were green and looked more organic.

"They're called Cactorbs," Goomblaine quickly announced after pulling out his phone. "They always travel in groups, they love mowing people over, and in case you couldn't tell, you can't jump on 'em."

"All right then," Mario decided as he pulled out his hammer and went to work on them, along with Hanner and Stubba. His partners had no trouble at all, and between their Multi-Throw and Hyper Bounce attacks they eliminated the opposing Cactorbs in record speed.

"Ha! That was no problem at all!" Hanner cheered as she and Stubba high-fived. "Right, Mario?"

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" Mario screamed from on the ground as the remaining Cactorb repeatedly jumped on him.

"You ain't been to the desert much, have you?" Snatchel remarked. He obligingly stepped forward and Lassoed the Cactorb, throwing a noose around it and flinging it far off into the distance.

"Whew… thanks," Mario sighed, getting up and dusting himself off.

"You oughta take better care of yourself, partner," the sheriff chided. "If that little bugger gave you trouble, you really think you can handle it over in the mines?"

Hanner started grinning. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you're actually _worried _about him."

"Aww! That's so sweet!" Stubba laughed.

Snatchel just frowned at them. "Oh, don't be thick. I just don't need any a' you fellers gettin' hurt on my watch. Now let's go."

As they continued trekking along, they had to deal with many more random Cactorb attacks. Mario was starting to wish he had a more powerful hammer, because the constant battling was wearing him down quite a bit. He was getting exhausted.

"Are we almost there?" Stubba asked after some time.

"Shouldn't be too much longer," Snatchel decided. "I reckon we just gotta – "

Suddenly he skidded to a stop. His eyes narrowed at something off in the distance and he clenched his fists.

"What's the matter?" Mario asked cautiously.

The sheriff pointed at what he was looking at. "_That _is."

Racing through the desert in the opposite direction as Mario's party were a duo of Little Mousers. They were both wearing ratty cowboy hats and black masks and bandanas, the signature of the Mouser Gang. They were cackling greedily as they scampered along, each of them clutching an enormous Gold Nugget in their hands.

"Ha! What a loot that was!" the first one laughed triumphantly. "Them Mustard Mines are just ripe for the pickin'! This is the greatest heist we've ever done!"

"Tell me about it! All them other stunts we pulled were fool's errands compared to this!" the second one agreed. "We'll all be set fer life after this! And best of all, they're ain't _nobody _who can stop us!"

"THINK AGAIN, YOU PUNKS!!!" Snatchel bellowed, storming over to them.

"Wait a minute – " Mario groaned, clutching at himself as he struggled to follow after him.

"Mario, are you okay?" Hanner asked worriedly.

The Mouser duo immediately jerked to a stop as they saw the group approaching them. "Aw, no, it's the sheriff!" the second one cried. "We're doomed!"

"No we ain't! We ain't goin' down without a fight!" the first one snapped, getting in a battle stance.

"You asked for it," Snatchel growled, eager to oblige.

Even though it was five against two, the Mousers proved to be an incredibly tough fight. They moved so quickly they were almost impossible to hit, and more often than not Mario's teammates ended up hitting each other by accident. Then they were open to a good hard smack from one of their opponents.

"Hold _still_, would you?!" Goomblaine snapped, trying to Headbonk one of them and ending up with a face full of sand.

Mario was faring the worst of all. The Mousers quickly noticed how weak he was and started ganging up on him, ducking and weaving and smacking him around at every angle. Mario grimaced in pain and swung his hammer blindly around, failing to hit them even once.

"Stop hurting Mario!!" Stubba cried in alarm, trying in vain to distract them. Hanner was looking equally frightened, when suddenly, an idea began to form in her mind.

"Mario! I got it!" she shouted, racing over to him and shoving the Mousers out of the way as she grabbed him by the hand. "Let's do it, okay?"

Mario looked at her and quickly understood. "You got it, Hanner."

They both raised up their hands. "Second Wind!!"

All at once, a rainbow-tinted wind began spiraling around Mario and Hanner, knocking the astonished Mousers away. As the wind surrounded them and finally rose up and away, Mario felt energy flooding into him once again.

"WOAH!! That was so cool!!" Stubba cheered, jumping up and down.

Snatchel's jaw dropped. "What the heck just happened?!"

Completely revitalized, Mario turned to face the Mousers with a wicked grin. "Now, let's try that again, shall we?"

Both Mousers were freaking out. "Dangit!! This feller's some kinda wizard!" the first one cried.

Now the tide of battle finally began to turn. Fueled with confidence, Mario started dodging every blow the Mousers threw at him before getting in several of his own. His partners were fighting valiantly and coming out on top.

"I think it's time you gave that gold back, you varmints!" Snatchel finally shouted, charging at one of them and using Grab Dash. Mario watched in surprise as he rammed into the Mouser and swiped the Gold Nugget out of his hands at the same time, leaving the thief stunned and out of commission.

"Wow… now that's a Bandit!" Hanner marveled.

"But I thought he didn't steal," Mario said in confusion.

The remaining Mouser started panicking when he realized he was the only one left, and as everyone on Mario's team turned to glare at him, he finally dropped his Gold Nugget and threw up his hands.

"I give! You fellers win!" he griped. "Just take it, I didn't want it anyway,"

"Thank you kindly for that," Snatchel said calmly, grabbing the Nugget and walking back over to the others.

"This ain't over, Sheriff!" the Mouser snarled, grabbing his slightly-out-of-it companion. "You may've beaten us, but you'll never even get _into _the mines in one piece! The whole gang's over there, and we got guards set up all over! You ain't gettin' within a mile a' that place!"

"We'll see about that. I never let a bunch a' no-accounts like you stop me before," the sheriff replied threateningly. Without another word, the Mouser scampered back in the direction he had come, dragging the other one behind him.

"Well, this might be a problem," Hanner grumbled. "They've got guards set up outside the mines? Man, we should've thought of that. How're we gonna get in now?"

"Of all the times for the sun to go wonky on us," Snatchel sighed, turning to look up at the sky. "It's dang near impossible to see out here when it's dark. If only it were night out, we could sneak past 'em no problem. I'd bet my badge on it."

Mario and his other partners looked at each other in interest.

"Oh… don't worry about that," Mario assured him. "I think we have a way of taking care of that. But hey, Snatchel… you did a really good job stealing that gold back from those guys."

"Yeah! That was really cool!" Stubba agreed. "But I thought you didn't like stealing?"

"For somebody who doesn't _like_ stealing, you sure are _good_ at it," Hanner remarked.

Snatchel frowned at that, gazing at the ground and looking uncertain for the first time since Mario had known him.

"Yeah, well… that's somethin' all Bandits are good at, I reckon," he sighed. "Seems like I've been good at swipin' stuff ever since I was born… but it just don't sit right with me. I ain't a criminal, and I never wanted to be. But ev'rybody thought I would, just 'cause of what I am." He shrugged. "You get what I'm sayin'?"

"Oh, of course. That makes perfect sense," Mario assured him, eager for this chance to get their newest member to warm up to the group. "But you know, the world's not always as black and white as you think. Stealing doesn't have to be a bad thing."

"Yeah! If you're doing it to fight bad guys, then it's a _good _thing!" Stubba said eagerly.

"There _is _such thing as doing the wrong thing for the right reason, you know," Hanner agreed. "And if you're helping us, it's _definitely _for the right reason. Trust us."

Snatchel looked back up at them, still seeming unsure, but also slightly amused.

"Hmph. Well… all right then, Mario. I reckon we are gonna need somebody who can nab that gold back from those no-good Mousers… if ya really need me that bad, I suppose I could help you out… once in a while."

Mario grinned.

"But _don't _think I'll enjoy it!" he added sternly. "I'm only doin' this for you fellers, and that's that! Now, are we goin' to the mines or ain't we?"

"Oh… yeah, sure thing," Mario agreed, quickly following behind Snatchel as he set off at a brisk pace down the trail. His other partners followed as well, looking slightly bewildered.

"Well… this will certainly be interesting," the plumber sighed to himself. "I wonder if he'll be good to his word."

_Aww, I think he's okay, _said a very young voice in his head. _He might be kind of, um, strict, but that's just his job, right?_

_Oh yes, he's a fine man… and handsome too, _giggled a second voice. _But not as handsome as you, my sweet little hunk of cheese!_

"Huh? Oh… thanks, I guess," said Mario, feeling a little embarrassed. "But you guys really think he'll be okay on this team, huh?"

_Oh, yeah! Don't worry about that, Mario! _the first voice replied. _Once he, um, finds out you're not bad, he'll like you! 'Cause you're the coolest!_

_It's only a shame he doesn't like stealing, _sighed the second voice. _You should never be ashamed of your talents, I say! If I were there I'd show him that! Mmmm hmmm hmmm! _

Mario smiled. "Yeah, you try that and see how he likes it."

"Does Mario always talk to himself like that?" Hanner whispered to Goomblaine.

"I told you he was nuts," Goomblaine muttered back.

Hanner gave a light shrug, and together the five of them set off toward Mustard Mines.

**––––**

**A/N: **Not a word on the horrifically punny name of our sheriff friend. I suck at naming people.


	19. Chapter 3, Part III

**A/N: **Okay, this is getting completely ridonkulous. WHY does the site no longer let hyphens show up?! Now ALL my page breaks from ALL my stories are gone. I get to go back and reformat everything. Again.

_**––––**_

_**Mustard Mines**_

_**11:00 pm**_

As luck would have it, the notorious Mouser Gang was currently at large in both halves of the world.

The dead still and darkness of night surrounded the entrance to Mustard Mines. They were composed of large hills that rose up out of the ground, and set into each one of them was a tunnel, supported by wooden beams, that led deep down into the mines.

There was a Mouser guard standing at each and every entrance. The rest of the gang was either out patrolling further away or inside the mines, excavating all the gold they could carry.

"This… is boring," sighed one of the two guards standing in front of the easternmost entrance, who happened to be the same Mousers Mario's team had battled in Dayside. "There ain't nobody fool enough to come over here. Why do we gotta stay out here while the other fellers get to have all the fun?"

"Quite yer whinin'," snapped the other guard. "You can't be too careful with a heist like this one. Ain't you ever heard about the sheriff of Golden Spur Ranch? If he ever got it in his head to get over here, we'd all be dead meat."

"The _sheriff?_" the first one scoffed. "Ain't you heard the news, partner? He's gone missin'! Ain't nobody's seen 'im in a week now! Like he vanished off the face a' the earth!"

"You just wait," the second one replied darkly, not seeming moved by this information. "If he ever chooses to show 'imself here, it'd take all of us to bring 'im down… and that's if he don't got friends with 'im."

Silence fell between them again, and the first one began to stop paying attention, gazing off disinterestedly at the night sky. Not that it had ever been anything _but _night, of course.

He completely failed to notice the Putrid Piranha emerging from the ground, silent as a shadow, directly behind him. But he did notice when it bit him.

"YEOWCH!!!" he cried, jumping into the air as the Piranha retreated into the ground. He spun around, looking furiously for an explanation, and when he found none he rounded on his partner.

"What the heck was _that _fer?!" he demanded. "Ya didn't have to go and _bite _me to get me to pay attention!!"

The other guard looked at him strangely. "What're you blabbin' on about now? I didn't do a thing to ya. I've been over here this whole time."

"Yeah, sure ya were," the first one muttered, turning away in a huff. The second one rolled his eyes and turned away as well – and so failed to see the second Piranha emerging behind him and taking a chomp out of him.

"ACK!!" he yelped, grabbing himself in pain and whipping around in a frenzy. The Piranha was long gone, of course. "_Now _who's the one doin' the bitin'?! You yellabellied coward, you scared to face me like a mouse?"

"What? I didn't do _anythin'_!!" the first guard shouted defensively. "Don't you be blamin' me fer this!"

"Well there ain't nobody else here, genius! Who _else _could it have been?!"

Fighting to contain their frustration, the two guards angrily turned away from each other, glaring off in opposite directions…

And both Piranhas popped up behind them, each one biting one of the guards.

"AARRGGHHH!!!" they both bellowed as the Piranhas ducked out of sight. They looked around, saw no one, and then glared at each other.

"THAT DOES IT!!!" they both screamed, and within seconds they were rolling around the ground and swiping at each other, deserting the entrance to the mines and leaving it completely unchecked.

––

Several yards away, the two Putrid Piranhas emerged from the ground next to a third one, and all three of them looked down at the person standing in front of them.

"HYUCK YUCK… DID WE DO GOOD, MAMA?" asked the first one.

"You did perfectly," replied the shadowy figure. Of course, it was none other than Miss Maizee, the enigmatic Crazee Dayzee with an agenda unknown to all but herself. "Those guards were even more foolish than I expected. The entrance is all clear now, right?"

"OH YES, MAMA."

"Excellent," Maizee said to herself, her eyes flashing. "And the Sun Soul is in there somewhere, just waiting to be taken. Now all we have to do is – "

"MAMA! MAMA!" One of the Piranhas had suddenly noticed something from far away, and now it turned to its master with a look of panic. "MARIO'S COMING, MAMA! HE'S COMING RIGHT NOW!"

Maizee looked startled. "_What? _Mario's coming? _Now?!_"

The three Piranhas looked expectantly at her, waiting for an order. She glowered to herself, cursing this twist of bad luck.

"Well then, I suppose we'd better go say hello."

––

Mario's party had warped over to Nightside some time ago, as soon as they'd seen the first guards patrolling a far distance away from the mines. They had spent the last half hour sneaking cautiously past the seemingly endless groups of Mousers, a task that would have been impossible during the day and was still not particularly easy now.

Thankfully, Mario's plan had worked like a charm. They had finally made it over to the mines without getting caught, and they were currently crouching on top of a large hill where they had a good view of the whole place.

"All right, Mario," Snatchel said in exasperation once he was sure nobody could hear them. "_Now _d'you mind tellin' me just what that doohickey a' yers was, and how the heck it made it night out all of a sudden?!"

"All right, all right," Mario sighed. He'd been stalling for time when he insisted that they had to get over to the mines before anything else, but there was no point in keeping secrets any longer. He could only pray the sheriff would believe him.

"Well… where to start," he wondered, turning to glance at his other partners. "You know about the Twelve Guardians, right?"

Snatchel gave him a strange look. "You think I'm thick or somethin'? How can you _not _know about 'em?"

"Right, sorry. Dumb question. Well… you're not going to believe this, but Goomblaine and I… just last week, we saw somebody kill the six Guardians of Day."

Snatchel just raised an eyebrow, chewing on his stalk of wheat. "Yeah, yer right. I don't believe it."

"But it's _true_, though!" Stubba insisted.

"Why else do you think time is all messed up like this?" Mario pressed. "Without the Guardians of Day, the world was thrown so out of balance that it got split into a Day half and a Night half. And you've seen that yourself now, so you can't say we're lying about that."

That seemed to get Snatchel thinking. "Well… if that _is _true, and yer tryin' to fix it, then what're you fellers doin' all the way out here?"

"Well, now that the Guardians of Day are gone… there are six people from this world who are going to become the new ones. But they can't do that without these things called Sun Souls. And one of those… just happens to be hidden inside the mines."

Mario got a little nervous when Snatchel suddenly narrowed his eyes.

"Now, that's just bull," he said sharply. "Ya really expect me to believe that yarn? Yer tellin' me that you've just been goin' around pickin' up random people to be Guardians from every which way?!"

"That's _exactly _what I'm telling you," Mario confirmed. "In fact, we've found two of them already: Hanner and Stubba!"

Snatchel turned to them in shock as they both smiled sheepishly at him. To add to their favor, Stubba pulled out his Sun Soul and held it out.

"Well, slap me and call me a Snifit… maybe you fellers _aren't _lyin'," the sheriff muttered, staring in awe at it. "Dang… we got us a real crisis if some lunatic went and killed those Guardians… you don't got any idea who the next one is, do ya?"

"Oh, no, we don't," said Hanner, stifling a smile. "It could be anybody."

Stubba looked at her in confusion. "Huh? But I thought he – " He broke off as Hanner whispered something in his ear. "Oh… oh, yeah! It could be _anybody!_" he agreed enthusiastically.

Not surprisingly, Goomblaine had chosen not to partake in this conversation. He was staring down at the mines from his vantage point, and suddenly he noticed something of interest.

"Uh, listen, you guys," he announced. "There's an entrance right down there that's got no guards in front of it. We could sneak in from there."

"Huh?" Mario and the others quickly crawled over to Goomblaine and looked down where he was indicating. Sure enough, the easternmost entrance, the one closest to them, was completely unguarded. If they hurried, they had a good chance of running right in without being seen by anyone at all.

"Boy, talk about lucky," Hanner remarked.

"Or not. It might be a trap," Mario decided.

"There ain't no trap I can't take care of. Come on," said Snatchel, promptly standing up and striding down the hill. The others looked unsurely at each other, then followed him.

Thanks to the perpetual darkness, not one of the other Mouser guards even noticed them. Mario and the others reached the bottom of their hill and found the unguarded entrance right in front of them, eagerly inviting them inside.

"All right… good job, guys. We actually made it," Mario said with a smile. "Now let's get in there and – "

He was abruptly cut off by a very familiar rumbling in the ground.

"Oh, no… not again. Not _now_," he groaned, covering his face in his hands.

"What's goin' on?" Snatchel asked warily.

He immediately got his answer as the three Putrid Piranhas came bursting out of the ground, blocking the entrance. Stubba cried out in fright and ran behind Mario.

"Not these guys again!" Hanner moaned, slowly stepping backwards along with the others.

"…Am I goin' nuts, or is there something _different _about those guys?" asked Goomblaine.

Mario realized Goomblaine was right – now that he looked, the Piranhas did look different from before. He was sure that they were taller, and their teeth looked larger and sharper. They each had little thorns growing out of their stems, along with a crown of poisonous-looking leaves surrounding their heads.

In other words, they looked a lot _stronger_.

"Those fellers don't look none too friendly," Snatchel remarked, actually sounding nervous.

"Just wait 'til you meet their 'mama'. She must be here too," Hanner said darkly.

"Correct, as usual," came a familiar voice, and suddenly Maizee had jumped down from the roof of the tunnel and landed in front of them.

"Well, Mario, we meet again. I can't say I was looking forward to this."

"Yeah, me neither," Mario replied with a frown. "Why do you keep following us everywhere?!"

"_Following _you?" Maizee scoffed. "I think you're mistaken. I go wherever the Sun Souls are. _You're _the ones who keep getting in _my _way."

Goomblaine was getting exasperated. "_Look_, ya crazy old bat, you're _not _gonna beat us to that Sun Soul! Why don't you just give up?!"

Maizee smirked at him. "Give up? Maybe you haven't noticed, but my pets have grown _much _more powerful since our last meeting. I honestly don't think you stand a chance against them this time."

Mario felt his gaze drawn back to the Piranhas standing loyally behind her, slavering in anticipation of a fight. Though it was hard to see in the darkness, he could have sworn their slobber was actually fizzing.

"What'd you _do _to them?" he exclaimed. "Whatever it was, it wasn't natural!"

"That's none of your business, is it? Now, Mario, I'm only going to say this once. Go away, or I can't be responsible for what happens to you."

Snatchel had had enough. "Now _look here_, missy," he said sternly, stepping forward. "I dunno what business you think you got here, but I ain't gonna stand for it! There ain't nobody gonna be lootin' any more gold outta the mines so long as I'm here, and – "

Maizee noticed him for the first time, and she rounded on him with venom in her eyes, catching him completely off guard.

"You honestly think I'm doing this for _money?_" she snorted. "I'm no common criminal! Something as fleeting as money holds no sway over me. My only concern here is the Sun Soul. It's _mine_, and you'd do well to remember that!!"

Maizee was glaring daggers at Snatchel. For some reason, it was making him break out in a sweat.

"Look, Maizee, I hate to tell you this, but we're not going anywhere. Not without a fight," Mario cut in, pulling out his hammer. "I don't care how strong your little pets are, that Sun Soul belongs with us."

Maizee sighed theatrically. "I expected as much from you, Mario. So be it. But don't say I didn't warn you."

And she stepped off to the side, which her pets took as a sign for the fight to begin.

Mario braced himself as the Piranhas dived into the ground and popped up in front of them. He whacked the center one on the head with a Power Smash before it could get in a move, but it hardly even seemed to notice the attack.

"Come _on_," Mario groaned in frustration, quickly jumping out of the way as the Piranha lunged at him in retaliation.

Hanner and Stubba were faring better, but not by much. Both of them were ganging up on one Piranha, but even with the two of them attacking it at once it didn't seem to be suffering much. Hanner had to pull Stubba out of the way as it shot a lethal-looking glob of poison at them. Snatchel was valiantly taking on the remaining Piranha by himself, repeatedly ramming into it, but the poisonous plant just cackled at his efforts before attempting to take a chomp out of him.

"This is useless!" Hanner cried. "They're way too strong for us!"

"You're telling me," Mario grumbled, whacking his Piranha again and again to little avail.

"This ain't right… no Piranha should be this tough!" Snatchel growled. He had thrown his lasso around his Piranha's mouth in an attempt to incapacitate it, but was putting up an obvious effort as his opponent struggled to free itself.

"If you're having trouble now, you may as well just give up," Maizee said listlessly. "Have I mentioned my pets have learned a new skill? Show them, you three!"

At her command, the Piranha that Snatchel was fighting burst free of its bonds, sending the sheriff staggering backwards. Then, to the shock of Mario and his friends, all three of them threw their heads back and let loose a trio of cacophonous screams…

…and a swarm of enormous thorny vines came bursting out of the ground. Mario and the others cried out in pain as the thorns lashed out at them like deadly whips, slicing them up before they even had the chance to get away.

"You see what I mean?" Maizee said coldly, her expression unreadable as all five of them sank to the ground in exhaustion. The vines retreated back into the ground, and the Piranhas grinned ravenously at their victims, ready to finish them off.

"Mario, this might really be it," Hanner groaned, fighting back tears of pain. "We can't beat these guys… they're just too strong."

But Mario wasn't about to give up. "No… we're not going out like this," he declared. "They may have a new skill, but so do we."

He turned to his youngest partner. "Don't we, Stubba?"

Stubba looked up at him and immediately understood. He grew a determined expression and nodded.

They both grabbed hands and shouted, "Freeze Frame!"

Suddenly, a glowing rectangular frame of bright green light appeared out of the air, surrounding the three Putrid Piranhas. They looked at it in shock and fear, having no idea what was about to happen…

And then the frame of light let out a brilliant flash, and they seized up, frozen in place.

Maizee was astonished. "What?! What did you do to them?!"

"We just leveled out the playing field!" Mario replied with a smug smile.

Now that the Piranhas were completely incapacitated, Mario's team made very quick work of them. By the time the Star Power had worn off and the Piranhas returned to normal, they had almost no energy left, and within seconds they had all wilted and drooped to the ground.

"Yes! We did it, you guys!" said Mario, and his partners (except Goomblaine, obviously) all struck flashy victory poses and cheered.

"This is unbelievable," Maizee muttered to herself, still looking shocked. "I never imagined – "

Hanner heard her and quickly turned to her in annoyance. "There! We beat you _again_, Maizee! Now will you drop this whole thing and leave us alone?" she asked impatiently.

"Don't be ridiculous," Maizee snapped. "As long as there is breath in me, Mario, I _won't_ let you get those Sun Souls. You can expect to see me again. And I won't be nearly so civil next time."

And with that her three Piranhas burrowed underground, and she leapt off into the shadows and vanished.

Once they were alone, Mario shook his head. "She has to be the strangest stalker I've ever had. And as much as it saddens me to say it, I've had plenty."

"I wish we knew why she wants the Sun Souls so bad," Stubba remarked, looking thoughtful.

"Does it matter? She knows they belong with the Guardians and she doesn't care. It can't be for anything good," Hanner sighed.

"Yeah…" Snatchel was looking slightly distracted as he gazed off in the direction Maizee had vanished. "Really, it's a shame such a fine-lookin' lady had to be so nasty."

"Yeah, it really – " Mario did a double take. "Wait – _what _did you say about her?!"

"Oh, don't you mind me, Mario. I'm just over here ruminatin'. Every Dayzee has its thorn, I suppose."

"Okay, you need to stop," Mario said sharply, grabbing Snatchel and pulling him through the entrance. His other partners followed, deciding they would rather not have heard that conversation.

_**––**_

_**Mustard Mines**_

_**11:10 pm**_

Mario's party ventured down the narrow tunnel in a single file line, and the air grew stuffy as they traveled deeper underground. Now that the light from outside could no longer reach them, the only source of illumination in the mines came from a series of lanterns hanging from the walls every few yards.

Mario kept glancing up at the ceiling, praying that the wooden beams would keep it from collapsing on top of them.

"I sure hope we don't get lost," Hanner muttered. "I mean, this place is supposed to be pretty huge, isn't it?"

"I'll say it is," Snatchel agreed. "That's why yer lucky you got me. It's my job to know my way around this place."

Sure enough, he kept guiding the rest of the group along until the tunnel opened up into a large, circular cavern. There were other tunnels branching off of it in all directions; this room was apparently one of the central hubs.

"Uh oh… hide, you guys," Mario muttered, pulling his partners into the shadows as three Mousers came walking out of one of the other tunnels.

"Boy howdy, this sure is easier than I thought!" one of them laughed. "Already we got more gold than we can carry, thanks to that there crazy Mechaminer doohickey!"

"Sure is makin' our job a lot simpler," the second one agreed. "I dunno what we woulda done without that thing! And I reckon we'll make a fortune just with those last thirty Gold Nuggets we got outta it!"

"Just as soon as we get 'em all outta here, before we get caught," the third one decided. "The fellers who're hangin' onto 'em are all over the place. We're gonna have to round 'em up pretty soon."

"Geez! Thirty Gold Nuggets?!" Hanner marveled to herself.

"That's a lot, isn't it?" Stubba said fretfully. "And those guys are gonna steal all of them!"

"Unless we beat 'em all, that is," Goomblaine grumbled, sounding like he had better things to do.

_Oh, no… we have to fight thirty of these guys? _Mario thought hopelessly to himself. _I couldn't even handle two of them. I'm not strong enough for this… what am I going to do?_

"Well, c'mon, you two, let's get back to work. That Mechaminer ain't gonna pilot itself, you know!" said the third Mouser.

"Hoo-wee! I never thought this job'd be so much fun!" cackled the first one as all three of them took off up a different tunnel. Once they were gone, Mario's group stepped out of the shadows and peered after them.

"A Mechaminer… I don't like the sound of that," Hanner remarked as she looked up the tunnel. "What d'you think it could be?"

Snatchel looked like he knew the answer to that all too well. "Oh, brother… I've been hearin' about this. I didn't know it was true," he moaned, leaning against the wall. "The Mechaminer 2400… it's some crazy machine they got that's helpin' 'em dig out the gold around here in record speed. So _that's _how they've been clearin' this place out so fast."

Mario looked at him in concern. "You okay, Snatchel?"

"I can't believe I let this happen on my watch." He looked like he wanted to pull his hat down over his face. "I shoulda been able to take care a' this… I ain't fit to be sheriff."

"Hey, now, don't say that," Hanner said encouragingly. "We all think you're a great sheriff. Probably even greater than you realize."

Mario hid a smile when he heard that. Snatchel smiled at her too, although he failed to recognize the significance of those last words.

"Well, thank you, Hanner… that's mighty kind of ya."

"Guys, can we stop wasting time now?" Goomblaine griped. "Look, if we're gonna run these freaks outta here, shouldn't we start by getting those Gold Nuggets back from them? _Before _they all get away?"

"Right," Snatchel agreed, immediately straightening up and looking newly determined. "Let's get to it. We're gonna nab that gold back, and then we're gonna make them Mousers wish they never crossed us."

"Right on!" Hanner cheered. The five of them marched off through the central hub and down one of the other tunnels, although Mario was hanging back and looking somewhat reluctant.

"What's wrong, Mario?" asked Stubba.

"I'm just thinking about all those fights we got into back in the desert," Mario sighed. "I wasn't strong enough to take those things on by myself. And now we have to fight all these Mousers… I really don't know if I can do it."

Mario suddenly noticed the tunnel they were heading down quickly led to a dead end. Hanner and Goomblaine were examining a large chest that was sitting on the ground.

"Is this another treasure of the Mousers'?" asked Hanner. "They've sure been hoarding a lot of stuff."

"Well, they are _mice_, after all. I reckon it's in their nature," Snatchel grumbled. "Looks like they've been usin' this place to stash all their stolen stuff… the _nerve _a' those critters!"

"Ooh, what's in it? Can we take it?" Stubba asked excitedly.

"Let's have a look…" Mario decided, although he was still feeling rather distracted and dejected.

He walked up to the chest and kicked it open, and his eyes widened as he saw what was inside…

_Mario got the Super Boots! He can now use Spin Jump to break wooden panels or reveal hidden items in the floor! He can also use the Spin Jump in battle to do extra damage to enemies!_

Mario pulled the Super Boots out of the chest and grinned at his partners, completely forgetting how upset he'd been just a second ago.

"Those guys don't stand a chance."

**––––**

**A/N: **Yeah, this chapter is definitely gonna be five parts. YAY! I don't want it to ever end!


	20. Chapter 3, Part IV

**A/N: **Holy crap, I am SO sorry about the epic hiatus, everybody. Stupid college, I blame it for all of my problems. But it's summer now, meaning there's nothing coming between me and my writing – except, y'know, my job.

––

_**Mustard Mines**_

_**11:24 pm**_

"WAHOO!" Mario cheered, performing a superpowered Spin Jump on yet another hapless Mouser thief and finishing him off. "Now these are some nice boots! I could _definitely _get used to this!"

"Awesome! That's eight Gold Nuggets we've rescued already!" Hanner beamed.

"Yeah, but we have to keep hurrying," Mario reminded her, dusting himself off. "These guys could clear out of here at any time with the rest of the gold. Especially if they get word that we're all down here."

"Well, I don't reckon this feller's in any condition to go rattin' us out," Snatchel laughed.

"Urgh… where are the pineapples, Mommy?" slurred the dazed and badly beaten Mouser.

After that encounter, the band of heroes continued traipsing through the mines. As Snatchel explained to the others, this area of the mines consisted of three main floors, each one containing what felt like dozens of snaking tunnels. There were Mousers patrolling everywhere, but Mario's team made fast work of all of them.

After clearing out the top floor, they walked down a spiraling path to the second floor and were immediately greeted with a familiar sight.

"Oh, Mario, look! It's another star thing!" Stubba cheered, racing up to the group of glittering sparkles hanging in the air.

"Wow. How'd that little fella get all the way down here?" Mario wondered.

Goomblaine rolled his eyes. "Who cares?"

Snatchel started blinking furiously as Mario briefly flipped sideways and reappeared with the Luma in his hands. "Just what the heck is _that_ thing?"

"Oh, don't worry, you'll find out soon enough," the plumber replied with a grin, recalling that Snatchel was his only partner who still had to be leveled up. The sheriff just shook his head, looking rather nonplussed that the others knew something about this place that he didn't.

––

Unfortunately, Mario had been right to worry about the Mousers getting word of their arrival. While they cornered a few more of the thieves and had Snatchel (however reluctantly) steal the gold back from them, two other Mousers were silently watching them from the shadows and were deep in discussion.

"This ain't no good! The sheriff and his pals are makin' off with all our loot!" one of them complained. "At this rate we'll be flat broke before long! We gotta do somethin'!"

"Eh, we shoulda known better to put all our eggs in one basket like that," the second one grumbled. "But they ain't gettin' their paws on any more of our gold if _I _got somethin' to say about it. Listen up, I got a plan."

––

"And _that_, Stubba, is why you don't put anything you find down here in your mouth," Mario admonished as the group traveled down the main tunnel.

"Aww, but it looked so shiny and tasty," the little Clubba sighed.

"ALL RIGHT, SHERIFF! You and yer friends are outta luck!" bellowed the Mouser as both of them leapt in Mario's way, causing him to skid to a stop in shock. "We ain't hidin' no more gold where you can just nab it back! This time we stashed it _real _good!"

"Oh, what're you rascals goin' on about this time?" Snatchel growled, obviously starting to lose his patience.

"You just wait! I reckon you ain't _never _gonna figure out where we hid the rest of it!" the Mouser cackled, and he and his companion scampered gleefully off before Mario's party could react.

"Okayyyy… what was _their _problem?" Hanner wondered.

"Well, we should've known this would happen," Mario sighed. "All right, guys, we're going to have to really book it if we want to find the rest of the gold. Now where would the Mousers hide it?"

"Oh, man, I dunno… maybe under that giant red X on the ground?" Goomblaine snapped at him.

"Huh?" Mario blinked in confusion, looked ahead and realized that there was indeed a large red X painted on the ground a few yards up the tunnel.

"They can't possibly be _that _stupid… can they?" he wondered, walking up to it. But sure enough, as he performed a Spin Jump on top of the X, a floor panel came flipping up and out flew a Gold Nugget.

"Well, there's yer answer," Snatchel said with a smirk.

"_What? _Oh, come on, how'd you figure it out?" whined a voice from behind them. Mario and the others turned around and realized the Mousers had been watching them this whole time.

"You _moron!_ How d'you _think _they figured it out?" the other Mouser snapped, smacking his partner. "And why the heck did ya _mark the ground where we hid the Nuggets?_"

"…So we'd remember where we put 'em?" the first Mouser replied lamely.

The other Mouser groaned and shook his head. "We _still _ain't done here, Sheriff! We'll be back, just you wait!" And he grabbed his partner and dragged him back down the tunnel.

"…I'm not sure whether to find this amusing or sad," Mario said after a moment.

––

They found several more Nuggets that way, with Mario Spin Jumping whenever there was an X on the ground. As they kept plowing through the mines, though, they eventually found themselves at a dead end. The small tunnel they'd gone down ended in a steep ledge, with one of the Nuggets sitting on the other side of a large chasm.

"Ha ha! Whadda you fellers make a' _this_?" jeered one of the Mousers, who were standing on the other side next to the Nugget. "I'd like to see ya try and get all the way over here! Looks like we win this round!"

Snatchel gave them a strange look. "Yer jokin', right?" He twirled his lasso and shot it across the gap, roping the Nugget and pulling it back without breaking a sweat.

The Mouser blinked in shock several times before he seemed to realize what had happened.

"_Shooooooooot!_" he bellowed, spinning around and violently kicking the wall. "Dangit, Sheriff! I swear you ain't gettin' away with this! You can't outsmart us forever!"

"I reckon we don't have to. That was only a few minutes," Snatchel replied with a grin. Mario burst out laughing while Hanner and Stubba started making faces at the rodents.

The Mouser's eye started twitching. "All right, that _does _it!" he snapped. "I didn't wanna do this, but you forced us into it! No matter how clever you and yer pals think you are, we still got somethin' you don't!"

"And what's that? A wicked case a' body odor?" the sheriff joked, clearly having the time of his life.

"_No! _What we got is – " The Mouser suddenly pulled out a large box with a handle set into it. " – a whole heckload a' DYNAMITE!"

Mario and the others immediately stopped laughing. "Oh, son of a – " Mario muttered, growing deathly pale.

"Ha ha! EAT THIS!" the Mouser shrieked, pushing down on the handle.

"RUN FOR IT, FELLERS!" Snatchel screamed, but it was too late. A deafening explosion burst through the tunnel, hurling Mario and his partners backwards and sending them crashing to the ground. As the enormous plume of red smoke rushed by them and nearly suffocated them, the ceiling began to crumble and collapse all around them.

"The whole tunnel's caving in!" Hanner cried in a panic.

"I dunno about you losers, but I'm gettin' outta here!" Goomblaine shouted, jumping to his feet and racing down the tunnel. Mario and the others took off after him as fast as they could, but the collapsing tunnel threatened to catch up to them in a matter of seconds.

"Guys! Down this way!" Mario alerted them, making a hard right and dashing down an adjacent tunnel. His partners all followed after him, and not a moment too soon. The instant they were all together, the ceiling caved in directly behind them, blocking off the exit and trapping them.

"Oh, _no!_" Stubba cried. "Mario, Mario, we're stuck! We can't get back out!"

"Oh gosh, oh gosh, oh gosh…" Hanner whimpered, biting her nails.

"Hey, now, calm down, both of ya!" said Snatchel. "I'm the sheriff here, and _I _say when we panic. Now let's just follow this here tunnel and see where it goes."

He turned around to do just that, only to see it led to a dead end approximately ten feet away.

"…All right, I reckon we can panic now."

"Hmm…" The gears were slowly turning in Mario's mind. "Not yet, we can't. I have an idea. Everybody get in close."

His partners turned and saw him pull out the Aeon Hourglass, and immediately understanding, rushed over to him. Just because the tunnel had collapsed here didn't mean it collapsed in the other half of the world, right?

"Here goes nothing," Mario muttered, turning the hourglass over. All five of them disappeared in a flash.

––

_**Mustard Mines**_

_**11:39 am**_

As the light faded away, Mario and the others looked around and sighed in relief. As they were underground, there was obviously nothing to indicate it was now daylight out except for the lanterns burning more brightly – but more importantly, the tunnel here was completely intact and their exit was clear.

"That's a mighty fine hourglass a' yers, Mario," Snatchel remarked fondly as they walked back out.

––

Eventually the group arrived at another spiraling path that led them down to the third and bottom floor of the mines. By now the air was almost unbearably stuffy and the temperature was dangerously high, but still Mario's intrepid team made their way through.

"Okay, how many was _that?_" Goomblaine groaned after Snatchel had roped another Nugget from a ledge out of their reach.

"That was twenty-nine… only one left," Mario replied, languidly wiping the sweat off his forehead. "Although… something's bothering me, guys. We've gone through this whole place, and we still haven't found the Sun Soul anywhere."

"Man, I almost forgot that's why we came here in the first place," Hanner admitted sheepishly.

"No doubt them Mousers found it already," Snatchel sighed as he walked along. "Just another reason fer us to beat 'em. Those good-fer-nothin' rodents don't even know what that thing really is. Just thinkin' about it bein' in their grubby little mitts… I can't hardly stand it."

Mario glanced sideways at the sheriff. He seemed strangely worried about the fate of the Sun Soul. Deep down, did he already know…?

"Uh oh… what's this?" asked Hanner, snapping Mario back to attention. He turned and looked; the tunnel they were walking down had suddenly opened up into a huge, wide cavern, with the ground dropping out and descending into blackness not too far in front of them. Running through the cavern and spanning the seemingly bottomless drop were a series of mine tracks.

"Oh, just terrific. Now what?" Goomblaine growled.

"Well, this is the only part of the mines we haven't explored yet… looks like we'll have to cross through here somehow," Mario decided. "And I think I know how."

He walked up to a large mine cart that was sitting on the tracks right in front of them. Luckily, it looked big enough to fit all of them.

"You're kidding, right?" Hanner asked nervously.

"That doesn't look very safe," Stubba protested, still staring at the bottomless pit.

"Guys, we don't have a choice," Mario sighed. "Besides, they wouldn't have put this thing here if it weren't safe for people to use. Right, Snatchel?"

"Well, actually, there've been quite a few complaints about safety code violations in this place – "

"Okay, forget it. Just get in, everybody."

"Wait a sec. We can't use this thing anyway," Goomblaine pointed out. "The tracks go to a dead end."

"Huh?" Mario looked up and saw Goomblaine was right. Just after the floor dropped out, there was a switch track that turned left and led to a dead stop. The other set of tracks seemed to lead clear through the cavern, but they had no way of reaching the switch.

"Okay… well, this is a problem."

"Oh, just leave that to me, Mario!" Hanner said brightly. She drew back her arm and threw her hammer across the gap, hitting the switch perfectly. With a whirring sound, the tracks shifted and clicked right into place.

"Nice job, Hanner," Mario said with a smile. "All right, everybody, let's do this."

Very reluctantly, Mario's partners jumped into the mine cart. Mario stood behind it and gave it a push, starting it rolling before he jumped in as well. Ever so slowly, the cart rolled along the track, passing over the deep dark drop…

And then it plummeted down a steep slope like a roller coaster.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" everyone shrieked.

"WE'RE GONNA DIE, WE'RE GONNA DIE, WE'RE GONNA DIE!" Hanner screamed.

The mine cart reached the bottom of the drop and started zigzagging through the cavern, wobbling dangerously on its tracks and threatening to dump Mario and the others out. Mario fought back the urge to throw up as the cart raced along the tracks, up and down, left and right, without any rhyme or reason.

And just when he thought it couldn't get any worse…

"Where d'you varmints think _you're _goin'?" came a jeering voice from behind them. All of them turned around to see the Mousers riding in another mine cart just a few feet in back of them.

"What the – don't you guys _ever _stop?" Mario cried in exasperation.

"Why don't you leave us alone?" Stubba shouted angrily.

"Heh! Not likely!" the Mouser in front snarled at them. "Let's see how ya like _this!_"

Suddenly, their mine cart put on a burst of speed, ramming into Mario's cart and causing it to lurch dangerously forward. Mario's group cried out as they were flung to the front of the cart, nearly causing it to flip over.

"They're gonna _kill _us!" Hanner cried.

"No matter how many people try to kill me, it never gets any less annoying," Mario sighed.

The Mousers' cart rammed into theirs again and again, even as they continued racing along through the rocky cavern, winding around enormous stalagmites that rose up out of the darkness.

"You goody-goodies ready to give up yet?" the Mouser mocked them.

"All right, I've had _enough!_" Snatchel declared, jumping to his feet. He grabbed his lasso and flung it at the lead Mouser, whose eyes bulged as he ducked out of the way just in time. The one behind him wasn't so lucky.

"What the – WAAAAAAAUGHHHH!" he screamed as he was yanked out of the cart, hurtling through the air and crashing into a stalagmite. Hanner and Stubba laughed and cheered.

"You'll pay for that, Sheriff!" the remaining Mouser snarled, pulling out a very sharp-looking pickaxe. As his cart caught up to Mario's he prepared to lunge at the group, but Mario beat him to it. The plumber jumped onto the ledge of the cart and swung his hammer, whacking the Mouser and sending him staggering backwards.

"So, that's how you wanna play it!" the thief growled. He jumped onto the ledge of his own cart, and he and Mario began duking it out with their respective weapons.

"If I weren't so terrified right now, this would be the coolest thing ever," Hanner remarked, watching the whole thing.

"Shouldn't somebody be watchin' where this thing is goin'?" Goomblaine demanded. The other partners turned and saw they were headed directly for another switch track. One set of tracks swerved off to the left, the other to the right.

"Mario! Get back down here!" Hanner shouted. Mario turned around, saw where they were heading, and gave a yelp of surprise, jumping back down in the cart. They reached the junction and veered off to the left, and Hanner threw out her hammer and hit the switch just in time to send the Mouser's cart off to the right.

"YES! We did it!" Mario cheered.

"Ha! The joke's on you!" the Mouser shouted over at them as the carts raced along on parallel tracks. "If you get away from me, how're you ever gonna get _this?_"

He reached down and dramatically held up the very last Gold Nugget. Everyone gasped.

"_You _had that thing all along?" Mario demanded.

"You got that right, fatty!" the thief cackled, holding the Nugget up for all to see. "Looks like I got the last laugh after all, huh? How does it feel knowin' you got this far only to get outsmarted by a little mouse? I reckon you'll never be able to show yer faces in town again! Why don't ya just – "

He was cut off as Snatchel threw out his lasso and grabbed the Nugget right out of his hands.

"What? …Aw, dangit…"

"_All right!_" Hanner cheered as Snatchel caught the Nugget in his hands. "We did it! We really did it!"

"Awesome work, everybody! I knew we could do it!" said Mario as everyone laughed and celebrated. Finally, the ground rose up to meet them again and the carts began riding along on solid earth.

"Thank goodness that's over with… we're safe now, right?" said Hanner.

Snatchel looked over his shoulder in the direction the cart was heading, and suddenly blanched. "Uh… I wouldn't say that."

The tracks came to an abrupt end directly ahead, just in front of a large hole in the ground.

Mario and the others turned and noticed this, but were too late to do anything about it.

"Well, this stinks…"

All of them screamed as the cart crashed into the edge of the tracks, dumping them out and sending them plummeting head over heels into the massive hole, down to who-knew-where.

The Mouser watched this and grumbled to himself, ducking down into his cart and pulling out a walkie-talkie.

"All right, fellers, it's me!" he hissed into it. "Now listen up, the sheriff and his posse are on their way down. At this point there's only one thing left we can do to possibly stop 'em… prepare the Mechaminer!"

––

_**Mustard Mines**_

_**11:59 am**_

Mario landed on the hard ground with a painful thud. After wincing and groaning for a moment, he rubbed his spinning head and slowly pulled himself up into a sitting position. All around him, his partners did the same.

"Nice going, genius… 'We're safe now, right?' You just _had _to say it!" Goomblaine shot at Hanner.

"Hey, that wasn't _my _fault!" Hanner snapped back defensively.

Mario looked around slowly and cautiously. They had fallen into what appeared to be a large, circular room with rock walls on all sides. The lanterns that were strung up provided some light, but all that did was illuminate the fact that there didn't seem to be a single way out.

"Mario, are we stuck down here?" Stubba whimpered.

"I don't know, Stubba," he replied, trying to ignore his quickening heartbeat.

Suddenly, there came a wicked laugh from high above their heads. They looked up to see the Mouser peering down at them with a malicious grin before he performed an acrobatic flip and dropped down to the floor next to them, landing gracefully.

"It's the end a' the line for you fellers!" he taunted as Mario's team got into fighting stances. "Too bad all that hard work a' yers went to waste! 'Cause now we got ya right where we want ya!"

"What are you talking about?" Mario demanded. "You're the ones who wasted your time! We took back all that gold you tried to steal from this place!"

"And if it's a fight you want, we can take you!" Hanner chimed in.

The Mouser just laughed again. "That's where yer _both_ wrong! Even if ya did nab back all our gold, there ain't nothin' stoppin' us from gettin' it all back and more!"

He took a step backward. "I think it's high time y'all were introduced to our secret weapon – the thing we're gonna use to mine this place _empty!_" he declared. "There ain't no way you jokers can stand up to the sheer might of… the _Mechaminer 2400!_"

Mario's party gasped. They braced themselves, but after a long moment of silence, nothing had happened. The Mouser blinked and turned to face the wall behind him.

"I _said_, the MECHAMINER 2400!" he shouted at it.

"Oh! Sorry!" came a voice from behind the wall. All of a sudden, there came a series of scuffling and whirring noises, along with the sound of something very large starting to move…

"What are they up to?" Mario wondered.

"Whatever it is, we can handle it," Hanner said confidently.

The noises suddenly began to grow louder, and along with them, there came a large rumbling. Mario cautiously took a step back as the earth trembled and shook dangerously beneath their feet, causing rubble to fall from the ceiling and threatening to throw them off balance…

And then an _enormous _machine came ripping through the paper wall, leaving a huge gaping hole. It was made mostly of wood, and had come rolling out on two large wooden wheels. Extending from its frame were a bunch of long jointed arms that were tipped with all manner of lethal-looking mining tools: whirring drills, razor-sharp pickaxes and snapping metal jaws. Three other Mousers were sitting on top of it and piloting it, and the last one gave a sinister laugh before flipping backwards up onto the machine to join them. Mario's party stared up in bug-eyed horror as the Mechaminer 2400 rolled up, bearing down on them and looking ready to tear them limb from limb.

"Although… _this _might be a problem," Hanner decided.


	21. Chapter 3, Part V

**A/N: **Okay first of all, if you haven't heard the news yet… **CLICK ON MY PROFILE PAGE RIGHT NOW.**

This of course means that Temple of the Sun is now officially AU… or it takes place between SPM and the new game. Let's go with that. Anyway, I'm so hyped up on endorphins or whatever that I just had to write up the Chapter 3 finale and post it right now. And this is probably one of the most crazy-awesome parts of the entire story. So, enjoy!

––––

_**Mustard Mines**_

_**11:59 am**_

"Okay! The Mechaminer 2400, the crazy machine the Mousers have been using to mine all the gold outta this place!" Goomblaine loudly announced as he Tattled on their opponent. "Not only can it run us over with those wheels, it can attack us with each one of those arms comin' out of it – that means it'll attack us six times in a row unless we do somethin'!"

"HA HA! You got that right!" jeered one of the Mousers from atop the machine. "Maybe you fellers should just quit while yer ahead, huh? Then maybe we'll go easy on ya!"

"Don't listen to them, guys," Mario ordered his team, starting off by Spin Jumping on the machine. Then Hanner got in a Hammer Throw attack, and Goomblaine ran up and delivered a flawless Multibonk on the wooden frame, causing it to shake dangerously.

"What the – ! Oh, fine! If that's the way you wanna play it!" the Mouser snarled. Suddenly, the five arms of the machine that had been waving haphazardly around all lunged forward at the same time. Mario cried out as the pickaxe sliced at him, and his partners all jumped out of the way from the drills and jaws. Then, suddenly, the Mechaminer put on a burst of speed and came lunging toward them.

Hanner screamed, but they didn't have time to react before the monstrous machine ran them all over, flattening them to the ground.

"Ow… that… hurt," the Hammer Sis whimpered as the Mechaminer backed away from them.

"This thing is a lot tougher than it looks," Mario muttered, shakily climbing back to his feet.

"Aw, you folks gettin' tired already?" another Mouser laughed condescendingly. "I didn't think the sheriff of Golden Spur Ranch would go down _that _easy!"

"I ain't finished here yet!" Snatchel shouted at them. He charged toward the machine and rammed into it as hard as he could, causing the Mousers to cry out in surprise as they were sent rolling backwards and crashing into the wall. The Mechaminer shook even harder from the impact.

"If we keep attacking that thing, it'll break for sure!" Mario realized.

"Easier said than done!" Goomblaine snapped at him. Sure enough, the Mechaminer had come rolling forward again, its deadly arms lashing out at them a second time. Yelping in fear, Mario had to scramble backwards to avoid taking a drill to the stomach. He tried whacking the arm with his hammer, but that didn't seem to do much…

"Come _on_, guys!" Hanner pressed, throwing her hammer and hitting one of the Mousers squarely between the eyes. The Mouser snarled furiously and sent another drill at her, but she ducked into her shell just in time as the drill bounced harmlessly off of it. Meanwhile, Stubba frowned in concentration as he ducked underneath another wildly waving arm, running up to the Mechaminer and pounding it as hard as he could with his club.

"All right, now you fellers are startin' to get on our nerves!" the lead Mouser shouted threateningly. He pulled a lever and sent the Mechaminer charging forward, and Stubba was unable to get out of the way before he was run over again.

"Stubba!" Mario screamed, trying to run to the little Clubba. He was stopped in his tracks by another arm, which grabbed him in its metal jaws by his overalls. The plumber cried out in shock as the arm flailed him around before flinging him headfirst into the wall.

"Mario!" cried Hanner as she and the others ran up to him. "Are you okay?"

"Urgh…" Mario sat up slowly, clutching his head. "This would be a heck of a lot easier if we could just get rid of those arms…"

"No kidding! We can't fight off all of them at once!" Hanner agreed. "We gotta detach them somehow, or something!"

"Yeah? How do you plan on doing _that_, genius?" Goomblaine snarled at her.

Mario's mind was racing. Their constant assault on the machine had proven its structure wasn't strong at all. There had to be some way they could get rid of the arms. There must be _something _they could do…

Then his eyes fell on Snatchel.

He grinned. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Way ahead of ya, partner!" Snatchel replied with an eager smirk. Straightening out his hat, he raced up to the machine and shot out his lasso, roping one of the outreaching arms. Then he yanked backwards with all his might… and the arm broke off of the machine, flying across the room and crashing into the wall.

"WHAT THE HECK? Nobody told me _that _could happen!" the lead Mouser cried, turning to smack the one standing next to him. "THIS IS ALL YER FAULT!"

While the Mousers were busy bickering, Mario ran up to Stubba, who was curled up on the ground. "Stubba! Are you all right?"

Stubba quickly uncurled himself, covered in dirt but looking unharmed. "Oh, don't worry about me, Mario!" he giggled.

"Guys, look out!" Hanner shouted at them. Mario looked up in time to see the Mechaminer come barging forward again, and he grabbed Stubba and dived off to the side just in time.

"Okay guys, new plan!" Mario alerted his partners as he raced back over to them. "Snatchel, you get rid of the arms, and then the rest of us will be open to attack the machine. We can break this thing no problem if we all work together!"

"Yeah! I like the sound of that!" Hanner said with a grin.

"Well, _we _don't!" growled the lead Mouser. "Who says we're even gonna let you get that far? Get a load a' _this!_"

He pulled on a lever, and all of the remaining arms shot out at them at once, whirring and snapping. Everyone ducked and rolled out of the way, and then Snatchel leapt to his feet and twirled his lasso, yanking off another one of the arms.

"You gonna keep tryin' that?" he laughed.

"Grr… you just wait, Sheriff!" one of the Mousers snarled, shaking his fist. He started fiddling furiously with the levers, causing the Mechaminer to lurch erratically around as it swung its arms around in a wide arc.

"No, you numbskull! _That _ain't how you do it!" the lead Mouser snapped at him. Both of them started wrestling with the controls, all the while causing the arms to flail crazily in the air.

"…Something tells me they haven't had much practice with that thing," Mario decided, he and his partners watching the spectacle.

"Well, less work for us then!" Snatchel decided. One by one, he Lassoed the wooden arms and pulled them off the machine, until all of them were lying uselessly on the ground.

"YEAH! Way to go!" Hanner cheered, jumping up and down in excitement.

The lead Mouser looked up and realized what had happened. "What the – aw, _dangit!_" He smacked all of the other Mousers. "Yer all gettin' docked pay fer this!"

"How was that _our _fault?" one of them protested.

"Would you all just _shut up _already?" Goomblaine shouted at them, running up and mercilessly Multibonking the now-defenseless machine. Mario and his other partners all followed suit, attacking the Mechaminer with a barrage of their most powerful hits.

Finally, the assault became too much for the shoddy machine to handle. The Mousers all froze and stared down in horror as it let out a loud, dangerous creak, accompanied by the sound of splintering wood. Alarmed, Mario broke off his Power Bounce and scrambled backwards just in time to see the Mechaminer collapse in on itself and come bursting apart. Everybody screamed and ducked as wooden beams and wheels came whizzing over their heads in every direction, crashing into the walls before slumping harmlessly to the ground.

When the dust finally settled, Mario and his partners stood up and slowly approached the place where the Mechaminer once stood. Now there was nothing but four bewildered-looking Mousers sitting among a pile of broken wood.

"Well… that didn't go quite like we planned," one Mouser sighed.

"YAY! We did it!" Stubba cheered joyfully.

"Nice work, you guys!" Mario said with a grin, exchanging high-fives with his partners.

"Oh, this is just _perfect!_" the lead Mouser growled. "I can't trust you fellers to do anythin', can I? Come on, let's clear outta here while we still can!"

Mario heard that and snapped back to attention. "Not so fast!" he declared, stomping his foot down in front of the lead Mouser to cut off his escape. "First, you're going to tell us what you guys did with that Sun Soul!"

"Yeah! We _know _you guys have it, so don't even try playing dumb!" Hanner chimed in.

The Mousers looked unsurely at each other before the lead one's face lit up in understanding. A wicked smirk grew on his face.

"Ohoho… I reckon yer talkin' about that dang ol' glowy egg thing we found down here?" he laughed tauntingly. The alarmed looks he got from Mario's team told him he was right, and he grinned in triumph. "Ha! After we got word that the sheriff was down here bustin' the place up, you really think we'd be plumb fool enough to just _leave _it down here where you could just nab it back? Heck, it don't take a genius to figure out that thing was worth more than all the gold in here put together!"

"Why you little…" Mario growled in frustration.

"You dirty rodent!" Snatchel snarled, grabbing the Mouser. "You'd better tell us what you did with that thing!"

"Oh, it's _long _gone by now," the thief laughed, enjoying the heck out of torturing the sheriff like this. "We sent it someplace safe, far away from here! I'd like to see ya try and find it now!"

He thrust himself out of the sheriff's grip, landing safely next to his associates. "Our job here is done, fellers! Let's clear outta here! You know where to go!"

"Hey – wait! Where do you think you're going?" Mario shouted after them, but the Mousers ignored him completely, cackling to themselves as they took off through the hole that the Mechaminer had ripped in the wall.

"Come on, guys, we have to catch them!" the plumber yelled at his partners, following the Mousers through the wall with the others close behind him. When he got to the other side, though, he stopped in surprise.

They were standing at the bottom of a long, winding tunnel that led all the way back up to the top. He could ever so slightly make out a shaft of light coming from the very top, meaning the tunnel led back outside. But the thieves were nowhere to be seen; somehow, they were already gone.

"But – but, where'd they all go?" Stubba protested, looking around in confusion.

"And what'd they mean by, their job _here _is done?" Goomblaine growled to himself. "What're those jokers planning now?"

"I don't know," Mario sighed. "But I think we'd better get out of here fast, guys. We have to follow them. And we _have _to find that Sun Soul."

And so Mario and his partners raced up the tunnel as fast as they could go, feeling the air grow cooler and lighter around them as they neared the top. Finally they reached the exit, and they stepped out of Mustard Mines into the blazing sunlight.

"Oh… thank _goodness!_" Hanner sighed, flopping over onto the ground. "Sweet, sweet sunlight! I thought we'd _never _get out of that place!"

Mario wished he could be as happy as Hanner, but looking around, he was currently preoccupied with the fact that there wasn't a single Mouser to be seen. The guards and the patrols were all gone; Mustard Mines was deserted.

"Boy, they sure cleared out of here fast," he muttered to himself. "But where could they have gone?"

He very quickly got his answer.

"Mario! Look over there!" Stubba cried, tugging on his sleeve and pointing off into the distance. "There's some Yoshis coming over here!"

"Huh?" Mario and the others looked where Stubba was pointing and saw, sure enough, a group of five Yoshis racing through the desert at breakneck speed, throwing up an enormous cloud of dust behind them as they ran. They were heading directly for Mario's team.

"Are they dangerous?" Hanner wondered.

"I don't think so," Mario said with a shake of his head. The closer they got, the more sure he was that he recognized the one in the front.

Snatchel blinked in surprise. "Dusty?" he exclaimed. "That you, partner?"

"Oh, Sheriff! Thank goodness we found ya in time!" Dusty cried as he and the others pulled up in front of Mario's party. "Listen, you gotta get back to town, right now! The Mousers – they've taken over everything! They stormed the whole town!"

"WHAT?" Mario's team all cried out at once.

"But _how?_" Mario protested. "I mean, how could this happen? The Mousers were just over here!"

"You mean nobody could stop them?" Hanner asked in alarm.

"I dunno _how _it happened," Dusty moaned helplessly, shaking his head. "It all happened so sudden – me and the other fellers here just barely made it outta there with our lives! All I know is, if you ain't there, Sheriff, we don't stand a chance against 'em! You gotta get back there now and lay the law down on them no-good varmints before it's too late!"

"You bet yer _britches _that's what I'm gonna do!" Snatchel snapped, storming over and climbing onto Dusty's back. "C'mon Dusty, let's ride!"

However, the red Yoshi didn't move at all, except to turn his head and give Snatchel an apologetic look.

"Uh… look, Sheriff, I think the world of ya and all, but… both you and I know that not even _you _know how to ride me."

Snatchel frowned. "You gotta be jokin'…"

"In fact, there ain't ever been but _one _feller who could do that." Dusty suddenly turned and directly faced Stubba. "Whaddaya say, little partner? Can I give ya a ride back to town?"

"Oh, you _bet!_" Stubba agreed, looking thrilled.

Mario was stunned. "Well, I didn't see that one coming."

Snatchel facepalmed. "Well, this is humiliatin'…"

––

_**Mustard Trail**_

_**10:38 am**_

"WHEEEEEEEEEEE!" Stubba cheered as Dusty galloped back through the desert at the speed of a motorcycle. Anyone else would have been flung off a long time ago, but the little Clubba was having no trouble hanging onto the legendary steed. Mario and his other partners were each riding one of the other Yoshis, unable to take their eyes off Stubba.

"How does the little feller _do _that?" Snatchel called over to Mario.

"I'll tell you when I figure it out!" Mario shouted back.

––

_**Golden Spur Ranch**_

_**10:00 am**_

Finally, Mario was able to make out the town approaching in the distance, and his blood ran cold when he started hearing a series of frantic screams and cries coming from within. As they arrived at the gate, Dusty literally rammed into it and sent the doors flying open, and then he and the other Yoshis skidded to a stop. Mario and his partners jumped off their rides and stared in horror.

Golden Spur Ranch had been thrown into chaos. The Mouser Gang was racing around and wreaking havoc, tying up the hapless civilians or perched on the roofs of buildings, firing their guns into the air. The townsfolk were running around screaming and frantically trying to get away, only to be captured and tied up by the sinister rodents one by one.

"This here town is _ours _now!" one of them laughed from his perch atop a water barrel. "And you folks had better remember it!"

"How could this _happen?_" Mario cried.

Snatchel was looking severely cheesed off. "CAN'T THIS DANG TOWN DO ANYTHING WITHOUT ME?"

Just then, one of the Mousers standing nearest them took notice of them. "Well, lookie _here!_" he snickered, alerting all of his fellows. "Look who finally decided to show up! It's the sheriff and his ragtag band! You fellers are just in time fer the show!"

All the other Mousers stopped what they were doing and turned to glare at Mario's group. Trembling nervously, the five of them immediately crowded together in a circle, standing back-to-back with each other and facing the gang of outlaws surrounding them on all sides. All the townsfolk who weren't tied up stood frozen, too afraid to do anything to help.

"All right, I'm only gonna say this once," Snatchel growled at them. "You varmints got _no _business here, so I suggest you all clear outta here _now _before I run y'all out on a rail! Who's the leader a' this here stunt? I wanna talk to him face to face!"

In response, the Mousers did nothing but chuckle amongst each other… and then, further up the street, a tall figure came striding into view. Hanner was the only one facing him, and her eyes widened when she saw him.

"Wait a minute – Snatchel! Isn't that your _deputy?_"

Snatchel instantly spun around. "_WHAT?_"

"HOO-WEE! You sure are some kinda fool, Sheriff!" Bronson called over in a mocking laugh. "Clearin' outta town and leavin' the whole place to me like that! Me and the gang here couldn't hardly ask for an easier time takin' the place over!"

"Y'mean _you _were in charge of the bad guys this whole _time?_" Stubba accused furiously.

Mario looked back and forth between the mice and the rat. "Y'know, in retrospect, this should've been really obvious."

Snatchel was dumbfounded. "I can't believe this, Bronson! I _trusted _you!"

"Yeah, well, we all make mistakes, don't we?" the Rat Funk chuckled. "Well, except me, that is. I ain't ever come up with a more perfect plan! I figured if you ever got word a' the Mousers clearin' out Mustard Mines like that, it was only a matter of time before you just had to go there yourself!"

"Wait – _what?_" Goomblaine demanded.

"I don't believe this," Mario fumed. "This whole time, the Mousers taking over the mines was just a distraction to get Snatchel to leave town! He planned this whole thing out!"

"Well if that ain't the most low-down, dirty bilge rat I ever saw!" Hanner exclaimed angrily.

Every single person present turned to stare at her.

"Uh… sorry. I think I've been here too long," she muttered, blushing furiously.

Snatchel had very clearly had enough of this. "All right, now you listen here! _All _of ya! This here is _my _town, and nobody else's! And I won't stand for no bunch a' nogoodnicks like you tryin' to take it from me!"

"And neither will we!" Mario added as he and his partners stood fearlessly together. "We'll fight you for this town, if that's what it takes!"

"Is that so?" Bronson remarked with a sneer. "Well, _this _I gotta see."

He pointed directly at them. "Sic 'em, fellers!"

All at once, the Mousers roared in fury and came charging en masse toward Mario and his group, who were more than ready to meet them.

"YEE-HAW! Time to dispense some Wild West style justice on these guys!" Hanner cheered as they all rushed forward and the armies clashed.

And so began the famous Battle of Golden Spur Ranch that would be spoken of in ballads and legends for ages to come. Mario swung his hammer furiously around, sending the Mousers flying by the dozens. When that didn't work, he busted out his Multibounce attack, stomping on them in quick succession as easily as though he were playing hopscotch.

Goomblaine was putting up an even better fight. The number of gang wars he'd been in had left him well-equipped to take on multiple enemies like this. The Mousers ganged up on him and threw themselves at him, but he ducked and dodged their every blow, then spun around and Headbonked the one who was unfortunate enough to be standing nearest to him.

But nobody was having more fun than Stubba. During their battle, some of the confused Mousers thought they saw a small green blur whizzing back and forth, not realizing it was Stubba until he crashed into their heads. The little Clubba was performing his Hyper Bounce and slamming into dozens of Mousers in every direction, laughing and cheering all the while as he sent them sprawling.

"All right, fellers! No more messin' around!" one of the Mousers snarled as he and several others ganged up on Hanner. "The sheriff is one thing, but this girl is gonna wish she never stuck her nose in our business!"

"Oh, please. You guys need to learn who you're dealing with!" Hanner said snidely. To demonstrate, she unleashed her Shrink Hammer on her attackers, hurling a barrage of hammers at them. As each one was hit, they suddenly shrank to a quarter of their original size, and yelped in shock and fear as they realized what had happened.

"Ha ha! Still think you can take me?" the Hammer Sis laughed, towering over them.

"Now, wait just a dern minute!" snapped one of the Mousers in a comically high-pitched voice. "We may be small, but there's still a ton of us! And I don't reckon you'd enjoy havin' a bunch of us little mice crawlin' over you!"

Hanner quickly blanched. "Aw crap…"

"Yeah! LET'S GET 'ER, FELLAS!" shouted another Mouser.

"**AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!**" Hanner screamed as the army of miniature Mousers dogpiled on top of her.

Of course, later on there would be no doubt in anyone's mind that the sheriff was fighting the most fiercely of all. When he wasn't plowing into the Mousers, he was whipping out his lasso, roping them and throwing them clear out of the battle before they even knew what had happened. Not one of the thieves could even get near him.

This was _his _town, after all, and if he didn't fight for it, then who would?

Suddenly, Mario heard an unfamiliar chorus of determined cries, and he managed to tear himself away from the heat of battle in time to see something amazing. Fueled by the bravery of the sheriff's gang, the townsfolk had joined in the fight. They had untied themselves and were battling the Mousers every way they knew how, whether it was smashing them with bottles or just punching them in the face. Mario quickly realized that the Yoshis, led by Dusty, were fighting back as well, plowing through the crowd of rodents as they gulped them and spat them out.

He burst out laughing. "Boy, this is really something!"

"But where's Hanner?" Stubba wondered from next to him.

"GET 'EM OFF ME! GET 'EM OFF ME!" Hanner shrieked as she raced by, the shrunken Mousers still swarming over her. Mario sighed, grabbed her and shook them off.

"Thanks, Mario!" she said sweetly before charging back into the fight.

The battle wore on like that, and it very quickly became clear that the Mousers weren't going to win. The combined determination and might of everyone in town was obviously too much for them to handle.

"I can't believe it! We're actually _winning!_" Mario cheered.

Clearly Bronson couldn't believe it either. "All right, that _does _it!" he bellowed, his voice ringing out over the chaos of the fight. "This here is between you and me, Sheriff! You call off yer friends and face me like a man! Mousers, back off!"

They looked more than happy to oblige. Very few of them were even left standing, and they staggered away from their respective battles and collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. The townsfolk quickly tied them up with the same ropes that had been used on them.

"What're you talkin' about?" Snatchel asked suspiciously.

"You heard me! You and me, in a good old-fashioned showdown! Winner takes all! You accept?"

"What? Oh, come on! You're just playin' dirty because your stupid gang lost the fight!" Goomblaine accused him.

"Yeah! We won, fair and square, so just deal with it!" Hanner agreed.

"Oh, I wouldn't say you won just yet," the deputy chuckled. "Y'see, I just got a hold a' somethin' we found in the mines. I was told you fellers might be _interested _in it."

He pulled something out of his vest, and everyone gasped.

The object in his hands looked just like the Sun Souls belonging to Hanner and Stubba. It was the same egg shape, had the same silver waves, and shone with the same light. But its color – a pure, brilliant yellow – was the most breathtaking thing about it.

"Whaddaya say, Sheriff? You win, you get the town _and _this pretty little egg. Sound fair?"

Before Mario could even open his mouth, Snatchel had already responded.

"I accept."

The entire town erupted into astonished murmurs and whispers, most of them looking incredibly frightened.

"Snatchel, are you sure about this?" Mario asked him in a low voice. "He's obviously just trying to get you by yourself so we can't help you."

"Oh, I know that, Mario. And that's how I want it. There are some things a man has just gotta do by himself."

Mario nodded in understanding. "Of course. I guess it wouldn't be a Wild West adventure without a showdown at high noon."

"But it's only ten," Stubba said in confusion.

"Figure of speech, Stubba."

"All right then, Sheriff," Bronson said with a smirk, stepping out into the middle of the street and pulling out a gun. "When you feel like it, you draw."

Hanner's eyes widened. "Wait a minute! Snatchel, you can't fight him like this! He has a _gun!_" When he didn't look worried, she prompted, "And you _don't _have a gun?"

"Hanner's right. You have to get a weapon or something – " Mario began, but the sheriff cut him off with a shake of his head.

"I ain't never used violence to uphold the law," he said firmly. "If I did, I'd be no better than that old sidewinder. I got this handled, don't you worry." He smiled and winked at them.

And so Mario and his other partners could only stand back and watch in anticipation and fear, along with the rest of the town, as the sheriff and deputy faced each other. Everyone recognized that the fate of the town was hanging on the outcome of this fight. Everything was deathly silent. No one dared to move. The sweltering hot sun beat down and the tension filled the air. An obligatory tumbleweed blew across the street as the opponents glared at each other from under their hats, wondering who would move first, and when –

And then the silence was shattered as Bronson let out a furious cry, pulling the gun out of his holster and preparing to fire –

And before his finger had even found the trigger, a lasso had come shooting up, tightening around the handle and yanking the gun clear out of his hands. Then the sheriff snapped the rope like a whip, whacking him in the side of the head with his own gun. He cried out in pain before crumpling to the ground, very soundly defeated.

There was a lingering moment of stunned silence… and then, all at once, the entire town flew into a celebration as whoops and cheers of joy filled the air. Hanner and Stubba linked arms and began dancing around in a circle, and several random people started throwing up their hats or firing pistols into the air. Even Mario was swept up in it before long.

Amidst all the excitement, Snatchel chuckled to himself and walked over to Bronson, slapping a pair of handcuffs on him. "By the power vested in me as sheriff of Golden Spur Ranch… y'all are under arrest, partner!"

"Dangit…" he muttered. "I shoulda known you'd be too stubborn to give up that easy."

"Well, we all make mistakes, don't we?" the sheriff replied without missing a beat. "Oh, and I'll be takin' that back too," he added, picking up the Sun Soul.

Mario broke off from celebrating in time to see Snatchel walking back over to him, holding the Sun Soul out graciously. "Mario partner, I believe this belongs to you."

Before Mario could respond, the Sun Soul suddenly began glowing fiercely, emitting a bright yellow light, as though it had been waiting for just this moment.

Snatchel looked at it in surprise. "Uh… is it supposed to do that?"

"Well, actually, yeah," said Mario, not even trying to contain his smile. Hanner and Stubba were grinning as well, looking absolutely thrilled.

"You see, there's something we haven't told you," Mario went on. "That Sun Soul… well, it doesn't really belong to me… it belongs to you."

Snatchel tore his gaze away from the Sun Soul and stared at him. "Wait… _what?_" he cried. "W-what're you gettin' at, Mario? You – you mean _I'm _– "

"Oh, we've been waiting so long for you to find out!" Hanner burst out happily, unable to contain herself any longer.

"Yeah, you're a Guardian just like me an' Hanner!" Stubba giggled in excitement. "That's okay, right?"

Snatchel was just looking more and more dumbfounded. "Wait a minute! Y'mean you – y'all _knew _it was me this whole _time? _And ya didn't even _tell _me?"

"Oh, come on! You would never have believed us anyway," Hanner laughed.

"Yeah… we figured it was best to just let the facts speak for themselves," Mario agreed.

Snatchel had no idea what to say in response to that. Instead, he just turned back to stare at the Sun Soul that was still glowing in his hands. And the longer he looked at it, the more he wondered how he'd ever gone so long without it.

"Oh, Mario… I reckon this means I'm gonna be stickin' with you and yer posse for quite a while, don't it?"

"Uh huh."

Then he looked up at them and smiled. "Well, then, it's a good thing I've come to like you fellers."

Hanner grinned. "YAY! We all love each other!" she cheered as she threw an arm each around Mario and Snatchel, accidentally throwing them all off balance and causing them to collapse to the ground.

_**Mario found the Sunhigh Soul! His Star Power is now 3! With Snatchel's help, he can now use the special move, Miracle Grow!**_

**~END OF CHAPTER~**

_The Wild West was a dangerous and mysterious place, fraught with enemies at every turn… Armed with diligence and determination, Mario and his partners were able to rescue the town of Golden Spur Ranch from the clutches of the sinister Mouser Gang. With three Sun Souls now in his possession, Mario's quest is halfway complete… but it will only be more difficult from here. Where could the adventure possibly lead him next?_

_**To Be Continued…**_

––––

**A/N: **Master of Randomness, you totally called it.

And with that, my favorite chapter is over… darn :( Well, I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Which is quite a lot. And there's plenty of adventure and excitement left in this story, so don't go anywhere. As a matter of fact, Chapter 4 should be pretty epic as well.


	22. Chapter 3 Interlude

**A/N: **Ready to find out where the next Sun Soul is, everyone? Well lucky for you, so are Peach and company. :D

––––

_**The Temple of the Sun**_

_**00:00**_

Peach sighed drearily to herself, her chin resting in her hands as she sat on the Aeon Clock with Luigi and Toadsworth. It had gotten to that inevitable point of every kidnapping where she was actually bored.

"I wonder how long it's been now. How long we've been held up in here," she finally spoke up. "I wonder how long before we'll be able to see the outside world again."

"Oh, Princess Peach, don't worry so much," said Luigi, trying to be encouraging. "You know Mario's working as hard as he can to get us out of here, right?"

Peach smiled weakly. "Oh, of course you're right, Luigi. I… I just wish we had more information. If only we knew how Mario is doing. I wonder if he's found that third Sun Soul yet."

"If he has, then I guess it's up to us to find out where the next one is, isn't it?" the green plumber remarked.

"Yes, and I do believe there's only one way to find out for sure," Toadsworth agreed, quickly standing up. "Perhaps it's time we took another little excursion down the stairs, wouldn't you say? I daresay it has gotten frightfully dull up here."

Peach beamed. "That's a wonderful idea, Toadsworth! For once, we actually agree on something."

Toadsworth decided to ignore her remark. Instead, the three of them stood together and pushed on the Aeon Clock as hard as they could, in the same place Peach had kicked it before. It worked like a charm; the clock immediately split down the middle, and its halves rotated away from each other, uncovering the staircase leading down to the lower floor.

"Well, here goes nothing," said Peach. "Just remember to be careful, you two. We were almost caught last time."

And so the three of them sneaked down the dark stairwell as quietly and cautiously as they could, not making a sound. When they reached the bottom floor, they all silently grouped together and peered into the hallway on the other side… but this time, there was no one there.

"Hmm… well, I suppose further exploring is in order," Toadsworth sighed.

"Maybe the three of us should split up," Peach decided. "We'll all look around, and if any of us finds anything useful, we'll tell the others about it."

"Oh… do we have to?" Luigi whimpered. He was clearly not very keen on the idea of being alone in a place like this.

"Come on, Luigi, it'll be fine," Peach assured him. "Mario's being brave out there for us, so we have to be brave for him."

Luigi put on a determined look. "Oh… all right. When you put it that way…"

So they walked down the shining golden corridor – Luigi made a conscious effort not to scuff up the dark green carpet – and when they noticed a series of doors lining both of the walls, all three of them opened a different one.

After Peach and Toadsworth had gone, Luigi swallowed hard, bracing himself, and turned the knob in front of him. The door opened easily, and he walked through, cautiously shutting it behind him…

"What is _this?_"

Luigi shrieked and spun around, backing against the door. He was in a dark, ornately decorated room that was mostly taken up by a large table – and glaring at him was none other than Rizz, the green Darkstrider.

"I – I – I – "

"What do you think you're doing down here, prisoner?" Rizz snarled at him, grabbing his throat with a clawed hand and slamming him against the door. "And choose your words carefully, or they may be your last!"

"Aw, Rizz, don't hurt him," came a voice from somewhere in the room. "He's kinda cute."

"I'm liking that 'stache of his," agreed a second voice.

Very cautiously, Luigi peered over Rizz's shoulder and realized that there were two more green, female Darkstriders standing in the room with them, both regarding him in interest.

Rizz glared at them impatiently. "Be serious, both of you! We have an intruder here! If King Shroude gets word of this atrocity, he'll have our heads!"

"Oh, but we don't have to worry about _him_," one of the other two assured her. "Don't you remember? King Shroude said the one in green was harmless."

"Hmph…" Rizz muttered in reluctant agreement, releasing her grip on Luigi as she pondered this.

Luigi, on the other hand, was furious. "What are you talking about! I am _not _harmless!" he fumed, stomping his foot. "I'm the great Luigi! And you – you're going to tell me everything you know about the Sun Souls, right now! Or I'll use my Super Jump on you!"

All three Darkstriders stared at him for a moment – and then Rizz's two companions burst out laughing.

"Oh, real funny!" the first one snickered. "Like we'd tell you anything about the Sun Souls! Come on, we're not stupid!"

Rizz, on the other hand, was suddenly looking thoughtful. "Be quiet, both of you," she ordered, and the other two obediently fell silent. Then she turned back to Luigi.

"You want to know about the Sun Souls?" she repeated.

Luigi was caught somewhat off guard. "Uh… that's right," he agreed, trying to sound assertive. "I need to find out where the next one is being held. And you're not stopping me."

"Well, isn't that a coincidence," Rizz sneered. "Because there's something _I'd _like to know as well. Perhaps we can help each other out. You see, there's an… important matter that has come to my attention recently."

"Rizz, what're you doing?" whispered one of the other Darkstriders.

"And by the way, my name is Rizz; King Shroude's most loyal and cunning servant," she went on. "And these are my two associates, Sall and Bess."

"Heya there, cutie," Sall piped up excitedly, waving at Luigi. Rizz smacked her.

"Now listen," she said sternly. "I'm sure at this point you've already met three certain… acquaintances of ours. Jaff, Pell, and Nobb."

Luigi was getting very confused. He had no idea where this was going. "Um, yeah…"

"Then you know that they're all complete buffoons," Rizz spat. "King Shroude was a fool to entrust them with any part of his plan. And yet _they _were the ones who were chosen to hide the Sun Souls!" She bristled in disgust. "They are not deserving of such an honor. I've made it my duty to prove to our king that _we _are his greatest servants, not those three imbeciles."

"Uh, okay…"

"I thought after their defeat at Mt. Tourmaline, they'd disgraced themselves beyond redemption," Rizz sighed, beginning to pace back and forth. "And yet… they're planning something. Something they believe will win our king's eternal favor. I must know what it is, and put a stop to it in any way I can."

Luigi was getting nervous. "Uh… I'm sorry, Ms. Rizz. But I don't get what this has to do with me."

"Well, I'm _getting _to that," she growled dangerously at him. "As we speak, those three are having a conference with our king, which I am not allowed to attend. What I need is for you to infiltrate that meeting, and find out what they're discussing. Then report back to me immediately." She folded her arms. "I am in a generous mood… if you do this for me, I may tell you the location of the fourth Sun Soul."

Luigi's eyes widened. "Really? You – you'd do that?"

"This is a limited-time offer," Rizz added threateningly. "They're meeting in the room right across the hall. Go there now, before I change my mind."

"Oh – right! You got it!" Luigi agreed, hastily turning around and running out the door, slamming it shut behind him.

"Rizz! What're you _thinking?_" Bess cried once they were alone. "Why would you tell that guy where the Sun Soul is? I mean, he's that Mario guy's brother, right?"

"Yes, and what does _he _think he's going to do with that information?" Rizz replied with a malicious grin. "He can't even leave the Temple! He and the princess are in no position to help Mario at all… and besides, hiding the Sun Souls was Jaff's idea. And there is nothing I desire more than to see Jaff's plans fail."

––

Luigi crept nervously across the hall, approaching the door on the other side. Sure enough, he could clearly make out familiar voices coming from the other side, and they did not sound friendly.

He gulped. Why on earth was Rizz making _him _do this? She probably just didn't want to risk getting in trouble herself.

Very reluctantly, and more silently than he'd though possible, Luigi pulled open the door a tiny crack and peered inside.

King Shroude, as well as Jaff and his associates, were standing in an enormous room with a vaulting ceiling and shining windows. On the far end of the room was what looked to be a large altar of some kind, and there was a red carpet leading up to it. This certainly did look like a room you would find within a temple.

"Now Jaff, I hope this meeting of yours is worth my time," Shroude said humorlessly. "As I'm sure you've heard, Mario has somehow managed to find yet _another _of the Sun Souls. I am not in the best of moods at the moment."

Luigi stifled a smile. He knew his big bro would come through.

"Trust us, my lord, you will want to hear this," Jaff replied dutifully. "As you requested, we have obtained information on the newcomer in Chronoside – the self-titled 'King of the Koopas', as it would seem. After meeting with him, we have decided… he is the one you've been looking for."

Shroude bristled. "That is an audacious claim, Jaff. What makes you so certain?"

"We have seen his strength," Jaff insisted. "He is mighty and powerful, likely more so than anyone else in this land. Furthermore, he is dull and foolish, and could easily be swayed to our cause. And… he, too, has a grudge against Mario."

For once, the Master of Night looked to be at a loss for words.

"You're sure of all of this?" he asked.

"Completely sure. He wants nothing more than to eliminate Mario, just as we do."

Shroude folded his arms, thinking this matter over very seriously. "You know how critical it is that our treasure be properly guarded," he informed his minions. "Mario must be kept from obtaining it at _any _cost. The one I choose to guard it is of utmost importance."

He turned away from Jaff and the others. "We will test this King of the Koopas," he decided. "If he proves worthy, he will have the honor of being my most crucial servant. And once you've done that… go and protect that next Sun Soul, Jaff. Mario will _not _humiliate our efforts again."

The Darkstriders perked up in excitement. "It will be done, my lord!" Jaff declared loyally. "We will seek him out even now! You will not be disappointed!"

Shroude nodded in approval, and the Darkstriders immediately vanished from the room in three puffs of smoke… and Luigi, completely stunned, withdrew from the room before he was noticed.

––

"So? What did you find out?" Rizz demanded once Luigi was back in her room.

"Well… it was really crazy, actually. They were talking about this guy Bowser – Mario and I know him really well," Luigi began uneasily. He wasn't sure how much of this he should be telling her, but it was the only way to find out where the Sun Soul was. "And… well, it sounds like they want to use him to guard something. A treasure, they said."

Rizz's eyes grew very wide. "Is that so," she said in a soft voice, looking stunned. After a moment, she turned around and began quietly conferring with her two associates.

"Do you… do you know what treasure they were talking about?" Luigi ventured.

"_That _is no business of yours," Rizz replied shortly. "Now, then… you've done well, Luigi, and I thank you. This is very useful information."

"Okay… well, now you have to hold up your end of the deal. You have to tell me where the Sun Soul is."

"Yes, of course," Rizz growled impatiently. "I honestly have no idea what that fool Jaff was thinking, but he decided to hide the Meridiem Soul amongst a group of traveling performers. I believe they're known as the Starshine Circus."

"The next Sun Soul's in a _circus?_" Luigi repeated.

"That's what I said, isn't it?" Rizz snapped at him. "Now, Luigi, I suggest you leave this place immediately. Our business here is complete, and this is a dangerous place for one such as you."

Luigi immediately noticed the threat in her voice. "Oh… right, right. I'll go." He reached for the doorknob, then briefly hesitated and turned back around. "And, um… thanks."

Rizz did nothing but glare at him. Feeling his face flush, Luigi pulled the door open and slipped out as quickly as he could.

––

––

_**Soluna Town**_

_**12:00 Noon**_

Bowser was grumbling impatiently to himself, leaning against the wall of a back alley with his arms folded. This was just about the only place in town he could go without people seeing him and freaking out, and he was starting to get awfully bored of it.

"Where the heck _are _those blue weirdos?" he muttered to himself. "They should know better than to keep _me _waiting! Or do they not know a great and mighty king when they see one?"

No sooner had he spoken than he heard the familiar sound of billowing smoke coming from behind him. He turned around in time to see Jaff, Pell and Nobb marching up to him.

"About time!" Bowser huffed angrily. "Where were you freaks, anyway? I've got places to go and things to do, you know! I haven't got all day!" He started looking around. "And speaking of all day," he went on, "what the heck's up with the sun around this place, anyway? It's like it's never nighttime around here!"

"You ask too many questions, King Bowser," Jaff replied sternly. "If you are deemed worthy, you will be completely informed of our lord's intentions. In the meantime, we have another task for you."

Bowser rolled his eyes. "Oh, what an honor. I can hardly believe it."

"We have conferred with our lord, and he has agreed to allow us to test your worthiness," Jaff went on. "If you pass these tests, you will be granted the opportunity to lay waste to Mario, our shared foe, once and for all."

That seemed to get Bowser's interest.

"Ha ha! _Now _we're talking!" he said enthusiastically, growing a wicked grin. "Why didn't you say so in the first place? If you can give me some way to pummel Mario, I'll do whatever you ask!"

The Darkstriders all grinned at each other. "Yeah, we figured you'd say that," said Nobb.

"So, when do we start?" Bowser asked eagerly, rubbing his hands together. "When's the first test, huh?"

"Right now," said Jaff, snapping his fingers.

"What the – " Bowser leapt back in shock as a gigantic plume of smoke billowed up directly in front of him, and an _enormous _troll of a Darkstrider materialized out of it. It didn't appear to be very intelligent at all, but on the other hand, it was also holding a very pointy mace.

"What the heck is this?" the Koopa King demanded. Instead of responding, the oversized Darkstrider let out a primal roar, holding its mace high above its head and charging directly at Bowser.

"You're kidding, right?" Bowser scoffed, unleashing a fire blast from his mouth and barbequing the Darkstrider before it had even gotten close. It staggered backwards, looking burned and badly shaken up, as Bowser laughed tauntingly.

"Ha! That all you got?"

He quickly got his answer. The Darkstrider steadied itself, then gathered its strength and swung its mace at Bowser, striking the unsuspecting Koopa across the face.

"YEOW! What the – oh, fine! You wanna play rough? Let's dance, baby!"

The Darkstrider wound up its mace again, but this time Bowser retaliated by swiping at it with his claws. Howling in frustration, the Darkstrider bashed Bowser over the head as hard as it could, causing stars to erupt before the Koopa King's eyes. Shaking his head to clear it, Bowser ducked down and headbutted the Darkstrider in the stomach, sending it crashing into a wall.

The two of them duked it out like that for several more minutes while Jaff, Pell and Nobb watched the whole thing in eager anticipation. Every time the Darkstrider tried to swing its mace, Bowser would swipe it away with his hands or lock it with his horns. However, the Darkstrider was also using the mace to its defensive advantage, blocking off Bowser whenever he tried to land a hit.

Finally, it became clear that Bowser and his fire breath had the advantage. As the dizzy and weakened Darkstrider came charging at him one last time, Bowser responded by flame-broiling it at point-blank range with a devastating fire blast. Then, just for the added effect, he jumped on its head and flattened it to the ground as easily as though he were stomping a Goomba.

"Ha! How d'you like that?" Bowser gloated down at it. To his surprise, the defeated Darkstrider suddenly exploded in a mass of black smoke that rose up into the air and faded away. Bowser found himself standing on top of nothing.

"Excellent, King Bowser," Jaff said with approval in his voice. "You have passed the first test."

"Ha, you kiddin'? That was easy!" Bowser replied proudly, folding his arms. "Why don't you come back when you've got a _real _test for me, huh? At this rate I'll be wailing on Mario in no time flat."

"We'll see about that," said Jaff, his expression betraying nothing. "We will inform our lord of your progress, and soon we will return to you with the next test. Until then, wait for us here."

Bowser blinked in surprise. "Hey, wait – " he started to protest, but the Darkstriders had already raised up their arms and vanished into black smoke.

"Wait a minute! How soon is _soon?_" Bowser shouted at the empty air. "How long do I gotta wait here? Guys? …Guys?"

He grumbled to himself. "Just terrific."


	23. Post Chapter 3

_**Golden Spur Ranch**_

_**10:00 am**_

It was the aftermath of the Mouser Gang's attack on the town, and though it had taken a while, things had finally returned to normal. All of the Mousers were safely locked up in prison, the gold had been returned to Mustard Mines where it belonged, and it looked like everything would be just fine from here on out.

Except for one rather large detail.

"Sheriff! Whaddaya mean you're _leavin'?_" cried one of the townsfolk. He and most of the others were gathered around Mario's party, who had just made their final preparations to leave.

"You just left us to go to Mustard Mines, and look what happened!" the Toad who'd spoken went on. "And now yer tellin' us you gotta leave again? And ya don't even know how long?"

"Now, look here, everybody," Snatchel sighed. "I've decided that this Mario here is a right fine feller. And I couldn't call myself sheriff if I didn't help him out any way I can. He's in the middle of somethin' huge, somethin' that affects all of us."

It was painfully clear how much he didn't want to go. His loyalty to his town, and the need he felt to protect it, was unwavering. But he knew he didn't have a choice.

"Well, Mario, if you really are savin' the world," said Dusty, walking up to the plumber, "then you couldn't ask for a better partner than the sheriff here. He won't let ya down, no matter what happens."

"I know," Mario replied with a nod. "I'm lucky to have him. And so are all of you."

"But… now we ain't got a sheriff _or _a deputy," a female Bob-omb spoke up. "Who's gonna be runnin' the joint until you get back, Sheriff?"

"I'll tell ya who." Snatchel pointed directly at the gatekeeper. "_He _is."

Everyone turned to stare at the gatekeeper in confusion. His eyes bulged.

"What? Uh… why _me?_"

"'Cause yer a hard worker, and I know I can count on you." Snatchel put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't let me down, partner."

The gatekeeper immediately straightened up dutifully. "Oh, I _won't_, Sheriff! I'll run this town so tight, you won't believe! If anybody stays out past curfew, I'll _shoot _'em!"

Snatchel blinked. "Uh… that won't be necessary. Though I appreciate the gesture."

"Uh, I hate to interrupt," Mario cut in, "but we really do have to get back to Soluna Town as fast as we can. We've still got a lot of work left to do."

"Yeah, yeah… let's head out, everybody," the sheriff agreed, turning and walking back over to join Mario and the others. The five of them set off down the street as the townsfolk followed after them, waving and shouting a chorus of goodbyes.

"Y'know Snatchel, I'm not one to question your authority," Mario said in a low voice, "but was _he _really the best replacement you could think of?"

"Well to be honest, that wasn't the real reason I picked him," Snatchel replied, grinning sheepishly. "As I'm sure you saw, that feller ain't exactly too bright… I figure if _he _ever gets it in his head to stage a coup, it won't be much of a problem."

Mario smiled in amusement. "Now that I can agree with."

"Man, this place was the _coolest_," Hanner sighed wistfully, getting one last look around. "I'm really gonna miss it here."

"I'm not," Goomblaine muttered.

"We know, Goomblaine."

And so it was that Mario and friends' latest adventure drew to a close. They turned and bid farewell to the townsfolk, then finally reached the entrance to the town. Everyone behind them stood and watched loyally, joyfully cheering thank-yous and shouting goodbyes as the band of heroes rode off into the sunset… or more accurately, jumped back in the Warp Pipe.

––

––

_**Soluna Town**_

_**12:00 Noon**_

"Y'know, I ain't never been to this town before," Snatchel admitted, looking around. "But lookin' at it, it's a fine place, ain't it?"

"Yeah. It's just a good thing we're here and not in Rogueport. Something tells me you wouldn't like it there." Mario blinked. "Oh, Snatchel! Before I forget! We have to get you leveled up!"

"We gotta what?"

Mario pulled him down the street, over to the area in town where the Star Pedestal was located. When they got there, he pulled out the Luma that he'd been carrying with him this whole time. It looked especially relieved to finally be out of there, and it leapt up onto the pedestal and laughed joyfully as it gave Mario the same speech the other ones had. Mario nudged Snatchel forward, and he blinked in surprise as the Luma began twirling around and covered him in sparkles that gave off a bright flash.

_Snatchel was upgraded to Super Rank! He can now use Roundup to pull an enemy to the front of the line, leaving it open to all attacks!_

"Well, ain't that somethin'," he marveled, watching as a beam of light fell down on the Luma and it shot off into the sky. "You ain't got any more a' them star things, do ya Mario?"

"Now, don't be selfish. That's unbecoming of a sheriff," Hanner giggled.

After that, Mario wasted no time leading his team over to Rodolfo's house once again. As always, the Doogan was thrilled to see them, and to hear that they'd found yet another Sun Soul. After Mario had introduced everyone to his newest partner, he sat down by the coffee table next to Peach.

"So, Peach, any word on where the next Sun Soul is?" he asked hopefully.

"Well, actually, Mario," Peach said with a smile, "I think you want to ask Luigi about that."

Mario turned to his brother. "Oh, really?"

"Oh yeah! I found it out somehow, bro!" Luigi said excitedly, looking delighted to be useful. "It sounds like this one is called the Meridiem Soul."

"That's a very pretty name, don't you think, Mario?" Peach giggled.

"Well, yeah, I guess. But do you know _where _it is?"

"Oh, I sure do," said Luigi. "Actually, this one's in the middle of some kind of circus… uh, what was it called…"

"The Starshine Circus?" Peach cried, looking devastated. "Oh, but that was one of the places I wanted to visit more than anything! Mario, you're so lucky."

"Oh, Princess, such a filthy place full of roustabouts wouldn't be fit for one such as yourself anyway," Toadsworth said disapprovingly. "Those circus folk are so shady. They want nothing more than to swindle you out of your Coins."

"Well, be that as it may," Rodolfo spoke up, "if the next Sun Soul is indeed somewhere within that circus, Mario will have no choice but to risk it. Anyway, I'm sure it's nothing our mustachioed hero can't handle."

"Geez, you guys are talking about this like it's a _bad _thing," Hanner scoffed. "Come on! Circuses are always a total _blast! _And the Starshine Circus is one of the most famous ones in the world! It's practically a household name!"

"Oh, I always wanted to go to a circus!" Stubba cheered, jumping up and down in excitement. "This is gonna be so much fun! Mario, let's go right now!"

Mario sighed, putting a hand on the little Clubba. "Stubba, you need to calm down. We're not going anywhere until we find out more about this place. Rodolfo, where do we have to go to get there?"

"Well, Mario, the Starshine Circus is a traveling circus," the Doogan clarified. "If I'm not mistaken, they're currently touring through several large cities to the northeast of Soluna Town."

He took Mario's map and unfolded it, then pointed to the largely urbanized area in the northeast. "I would say your best bet, Mario, is to head to Nova City. The circus should be there right now, if not close by.

"And there is one other thing," he added, folding the map up and looking serious. "As unsavory as these circus performers may be, Mario, you must try to speak with as many as you can. Because the Sun Soul is hidden somewhere among them, there is a very good chance that its rightful owner is one of those very performers."

Snatchel looked confused. "What, y'all thinkin' our next Guardian is a _carny?_"

"Well, why not? It takes all sorts!" said Hanner. "Anyway, I just hope she's a girl. We need more _girls _on this team!"

"You're not exactly a paragon of femininity yourself, Hanner," Mario remarked.

"Hey, you _take that back!_" she snapped, whacking him with her hammer.

"Ahem… as I was saying," Rodolfo went on, "there's a road that leads right to Nova City from here. Soluna Town has a very famous trolley system that can take you right there. The station is in the north part of town."

"Sounds great," said Mario. "Thanks again, Rodolfo. We'll be back soon, with another new friend."

"Yeah, and lots of souvenirs!" Hanner gushed out.

"Not if _I _can help it," Goomblaine snapped, shoving her out the door. Mario awkwardly waved goodbye to the others before following them out.

––

Mario's party meandered over to the north part of town, and sure enough, there was a crowded trolley station waiting for them there. As they walked up and started nudging their way through the crowd, Mario saw that the trolley resting in the station was comprised of several ornately decorated, red-and-gold cars. It was quite a majestic sight.

"How come everybody's just standing around?" Stubba wondered, looking around at the others in the crowd. Most of them appeared to be muttering in agitation to themselves.

"I'm not sure," said Mario. "I hope nothing's wrong."

Deciding to investigate, he walked up onto the boarding platform and tapped the Toad conductor on the shoulder. "Excuse me, sir – "

"Hello, hello!" the conductor cried, whirling around and looking flustered. "And welcome to the Soluna Town Trolley! At least I would be saying that, if the trolley were moving right now. Which it isn't."

Mario's heart sank. "It's not?"

"And here I thought we'd have it easy for once," Goomblaine muttered snidely.

"Why isn't it working?" Hanner asked in concern.

"If I knew _that_, I'd have it working by now, don't you think?" the conductor sighed. "I just don't understand… well, here, let me explain. Trolleys run on electricity, you know. And the electricity comes from here."

He pointed at a large fuse box that was resting on the wall. "I have the switch on and everything, but no matter what I do, this thing only seems to be running at… _half _capacity. I can't explain it."

"Half capacity, huh?" Mario sighed, already pretty sure he knew where this was going.

"Certainly not enough power to get this thing moving," the conductor groaned. "Our scheduled route to Nova City will have to be postponed… indefinitely! Oh, what did I ever do to deserve this?"

"Don't worry. It wasn't you," Mario assured him. "It was an insane evil lord of darkness who wants to destroy Daylight."

The conductor turned to him and blinked. "What?"

Mario had already led his partners away.

"All right, guys. I think this is a simple case of somebody in Nightside turning the fuse box off," he announced. "Let's head over there, and hopefully this will be as simple as flipping a switch."

"Yeah, it _should _be," said Snatchel. "Somethin' tells me it won't be."

"Yeah, you're right," Mario sighed.

Making sure none of the irritated members of the crowd noticed them, he led his partners over to a secluded area around the corner of the station. Glancing surreptitiously around, he finally pulled out the Aeon Hourglass and quickly flipped it over. As the sand fell through the glass, there was a brilliant glow, and the five of them vanished in a flash.

––

_**Soluna Town**_

_**12:00 Midnight**_

As the light faded away into darkness, Mario looked around and saw that the streets of Soluna Town were largely empty. He walked back around the corner and saw that the station was now completely deserted. He sighed in relief.

"This is weird," said Hanner as the others followed after him. "I'm so used to this place being all bright and lively."

"Who the heck would wanna make it so the trolley can't run?" Goomblaine griped as he trudged over to the fuse box. "Is this somebody's dumb idea of a joke?"

"You don't think somebody's… tryin' to _sabotage _us, do you?" Snatchel thought suspiciously.

"But then they'd have to know about the Sun Souls, and where we're trying to go," Mario replied, refuting the thought with a shake of us head. "I'm sure it's nothing. Anyway, it doesn't matter. They're not here now."

"Wee hee hee hee hee…" came a familiar voice from behind them. "Oh, are you so sure about that, Mario?"

Mario's heart almost jumped out of his chest. Panicking, he spun around to face the voice and found himself staring directly at…

"Kammy Koopa?" he cried. "What – what are _you _doing here?"

"Who's _this _joker?" Goomblaine demanded.

Bowser's second-in-command was perched atop her broom, hovering several feet above the ground and sneering at them. As Goomblaine spoke, she swiveled her head around and glared at him.

"Hmph! You insolent child, show some respect to your elders!" she barked. "I am none other than the powerful and beautiful Kammy Koopa! And Mario! It seems you've walked right into my little trap!" she cackled.

"So, _you _turned off the fuse box," Mario growled. "So where's Bowser, huh? If I'm going to fight you two, let's just get it over with."

"Well, I'll have you know Bowser isn't here right now, you little wiseacre," Kammy snorted, folding her arms. "You really don't think someone as brilliant as me could have come up with this plan by myself?"

"Uh, Mario… what exactly is going on here?" Hanner cut in.

"Yeah, who's this _Bowser _fella?" asked Snatchel.

"I'll explain later, guys," Mario sighed. "We've got a fight on our hands right now."

"Wee hee hee hee… you little fools don't stand a chance against me!" Kammy declared. She waved her staff and launched a blinding magic spell at Mario and his partners. They all jumped out of the way just in time, and the spell blasted a large chunk out of the boarding platform, leaving it singed and smoking.

"Holy cow… she really means business!" Hanner fretted.

"I've beaten your boss so many times, you really think _you're _going to stop me?" Mario demanded. He leapt into the air and Spin Jumped on top of Kammy, knocking her off her broom and down to the ground.

"Mff… why you little!" she growled, struggling to her feet. She launched another spell at Mario, and this time he couldn't get away in time. He cried out as the blast hit him full force, sending him crashing into the wall.

"HEY! Leave Mario alone, you ugly old lady!" Stubba snapped, rushing up and whacking her over the head with his club. She grunted in pain as Stubba sent her collapsing to the floor, but she quickly regained control.

"_Old?_" she demanded. "You little whippersnapper! Take _this!_"

She sent Stubba staggering away with a flick of her wrist, and was about to attack him with a spell when she was blindsided by a hammer that came flying out of nowhere and struck her in the head. Shrieking in fury, she spun around and sent the spell flying at Hanner instead. The Hammer Sis immediately ducked into her shell, spinning around and Superguarding the attack perfectly.

"Face it, Kammy! There's too many of us! You can't win!" Mario said sternly.

"Oh, really!" the Magikoopa sneered at him. "You underestimate my power, Mario! All of you, try _this _on for size!"

She raised both arms high up in the air, waving her staff threateningly – and suddenly, five enormous bolts of lightning came down from the sky, zapping Mario and each of his partners. They all screamed in pain and fell weakly to the ground as Kammy laughed sinisterly.

"So, that's what the receiving end of a Thunder Rage is like… not pleasant," Mario groaned.

Kammy took the moment to race back over to her broom, climbing on and rising high above their heads and out of range of their attacks. "Hee hee hee! Now now, Mario, you should never let your guard down around someone like me! Let that be a lesson to you… a lesson learned too late!"

With that, she began pelting them with a barrage of spells from her staff, cackling insanely as she fired again and again. Mario's team frantically scrambled around the boarding platform to avoid being hit.

"She's usin' us for target practice!" Goomblaine snarled in exasperation, ducking as a burst of color flew over his head. "I'm _not _goin' down to this freak!"

"Come down from there and face us!" Hanner shouted angrily, throwing a hammer at her but missing by a wide margin.

"Hmm, and why would I do _that?_" Kammy mocked. "I'm finally going to defeat that meddlesome Mario and his annoying friends of the week! Why would I ruin that by coming down there where you could – ACK!"

She cried out in shock as a lasso suddenly flew up and tightened around her broom handle, yanking her violently down and sending her crashing to the ground.

"Next time, maybe y'all should _listen _when we ask nicely!" laughed Snatchel, who had just shown what Roundup could do.

Kammy climbed to her feet again, looking dazed. "You little brats!" she spat. "I swear I won't lose to you!"

"I beg to differ!" Mario snapped, racing up and delivering a powerful blow with his hammer. Goomblaine followed up with a particularly violent Multibonk attack, and Kammy could only sustain a few hits before she let out a weak moan and toppled over onto the ground.

"Okay, Goomblaine, you can stop. She's down," Mario ordered. Goomblaine rolled his eyes and broke off his attack, but as he started to walk away, he quickly spun around and Headbonked her once more since he felt like it.

"Grr… very impressive, Mario," Kammy growled. "But you haven't heard the last of me! I will return, and so will Lord Bowser! You're not getting back home in one piece if I have something to say about it!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll keep that in mind," Mario said nonchalantly, waving her off as she struggled onto her broom and flew off in a seething fury.

Hanner folded her arms as she watched Kammy go. "So, you, uh… know her, huh Mario?"

"But if she's the one who turned the power off, does that mean she knows about the Sun Souls?" Stubba asked worriedly.

"If she does, that means Bowser does too. Which is just about the last thing I need right now," Mario muttered to himself. "I just wonder… what was she doing away from Bowser? She's always with him."

"Look, I dunno who the heck you're talking about," Goomblaine snapped. "Can we just fix the power or whatever and get outta here?"

"Sure, I suppose," Mario sighed. Bowser and Kammy being here in Chronoside was a complication he really didn't need… but he'd have to worry about that another day. He walked over to the fuse box and yanked it open, and saw that there was a large red switch in the "Off" position.

"Here goes nothing," he muttered, gripping the switch and pulling it up into the "On" position. He looked around, but there was no sign that he'd accomplished anything.

"Did it work?" asked Stubba.

"Only one way to find out," Mario decided. He pulled out the Aeon Hourglass, and his partners quickly crowded in close as he flipped it over, and all of them disappeared.

Unbeknownst to them, four people had been hiding in the shadows nearby and watching the whole thing.

"I'm disappointed in you, Kammy Koopa," Rizz snarled. "You had the element of surprise, and you let Mario walk all over you. Perhaps you're not as strong as you claim to be."

"I – I was outnumbered, that's all!" Kammy protested. "Give me another chance to fight him! I won't fail again!"

"You had better hope you don't," Rizz said sternly, with Sall and Bess snickering behind her. "If you want the honor of serving our lord and destroying Mario once and for all, there is no room for mistakes."

She turned away from the others, her eyes flashing. "And if King Shroude is to realize that _I _have found the one to guard his treasure," she growled to herself, "there _won't _be any mistakes. I'll see to that."

––

_**Soluna Town**_

_**12:00 Noon**_

Mario and the others appeared inside the station back in Dayside in a brilliant flash. Thankfully, no one in the crowd seemed to notice. They were all busy trying to tip the trolley over.

"WOULD YOU STOP THIS SENSELESS MOB MENTALITY?" the conductor shrieked in horror, clutching his head. "THIS WON'T GET US TO NOVA CITY ANY FASTER!"

"But it makes us feel big!" a big burly Goomba shouted back. The rest of the crowd roared in agreement, then started pelting the conductor with a bunch of random tomatoes as the trolley swayed dangerously from side to side.

"Typical. I leave for ten minutes and this happens," Mario groaned.

The conductor scrambled to get away from the mob, then noticed Mario and grabbed his shoulders. "Sir! You've got to get away from here for your own safety! They've gone native, I tell you! I told them I couldn't get the trolley working and they just – "

"But the trolley _is _working now," the plumber cut in. "We fixed it. See for yourself."

The conductor stared at him, then walked over to the fuse box. He looked at it, and his eyes widened. After hastily pushing a few of the buttons, he drew back in astonishment.

"But – but it's running at full power!" he cried. "But _how? _How did you know how to fix it?"

Mario shrugged. "Oh, you know. Plumbing and electrical engineering… they're related fields."

"I wouldn't know. We ain't got either of those things at Golden Spur Ranch," said Snatchel.

"Too much info," Hanner muttered.

Not hearing any of that, the conductor raced back over to the crowd, who were now throwing rolls of toilet paper for some reason. "Everyone, _listen!_" he screamed. "The trolley's working again! If you would all just calm down and form an orderly line, we can get going to Nova City right now!"

When they heard that, the crowd immediately stopped what they were doing and glanced among each other. Then most of them started shrugging.

"Okay."

"Sounds good to me."

"Cool."

"It's like the weirdness just follows me wherever I go," Mario sighed.

"Oh boy, oh boy!" Stubba cheered, racing along after the others as they filed into one of the trolley cars along with everyone else. "We really did it! We're really going to the circus! This is so _cool!_"

Mario smiled. "Yep. This is gonna be a trip to remember, all right."

He and his partners crowded into the nearest car and sat down in a row as everyone else pushed and shoved their way in. After a few minutes when everyone had gotten inside, the conductor's voice suddenly came blaring over the intercom.

"Hello, everyone! Welcome to the Soluna Town Trolley! Our route to Nova City will be right on schedule! Local time is one o' clock pm – just like it always is! HA HA HA!"

Everyone in the car groaned loudly.

"I'm smackin' him when I see him," Goomblaine muttered.

"You have my permission," Mario agreed as the trolley began to move, slowly rolling out of the station and picking up speed. Stubba's tail wagged in excitement as he stood up in his seat and peered out the window, watching as Soluna Town passed them by and finally disappeared into the distance.

They were off to the Starshine Circus… where the next Guardian was waiting for them.

––––

**A/N: **Okay, so "Roundup" makes a lot more sense if you think about it in an actual game. If you're fighting a row of enemies and you can't reach one because it's in the back, or in the air or something, you use Roundup to pull it to the front of the line and/or down to the ground. This works really well for Snatchel because Grab Dash can only be used on the frontmost ground enemy.

…Yeah, I put WAY too much thought into this. -_- Anyhoo, we're starting Chapter 4 now, which should be fun right? We're going to meet a ton of interesting characters this time around.


	24. Chapter 4, Part I

**Chapter 4:**

**Big Time at the Big Top**

––

The trolley raced along its specially-made track, down a sunny and otherwise deserted road. There were green meadows on either side of them, and there wasn't a cloud to be seen in the sky. The road they were traveling down was lined with poles which held up a thick cable that ran over their heads the entire way, which was what the trolley connected to in order to get its electricity.

Mario would have liked to admire their surroundings a little more, but it was currently a little hard to concentrate.

"Oh, I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't _wait!_" Stubba cheered. He had been racing up and down the aisle for the past several minutes and still wasn't getting tired. "I wanna see the circus so bad! Are we gonna get there soon, Mario?"

"Sir, can't you please get that kid of yours to calm down?" asked an impatient Gulpit sitting across from Mario.

"Nope. I've tried."

"Why's that little feller all worked up anyway?" Snatchel wondered.

"Aw Snatchel, didn't you ever daydream about running away and joining the circus when you were a kid?" Hanner giggled.

Snatchel thought about it. "Nope. I always daydreamed about catchin' the legendary Yoshi rustlers of Thunder Gulch."

Hanner narrowed her eyes at him. "You're a strange one."

"That's all right, though. Being strange is pretty much a prerequisite of being one of my partners," Mario chimed in.

Stubba suddenly came to a halt. "What's a pre-re-qui-site?" he immediately asked.

"That means you _have _to be strange to be his partner," said Hanner.

Stubba didn't look happy about that. "What? But I don't _wanna _be strange!"

"Being strange can be a good thing!"

"No it can't!"

"Yes it can!"

"No it can't!"

"Yes it _can!_"

"Take Hanner. She picks fights with six-year-olds," Mario said to Snatchel, causing both of them to laugh.

Goomblaine, as usual, was sitting off by himself, glaring out a window and refusing to get involved.

––

_**Nova City**_

_**1:00 pm**_

Finally, the grassy meadows began to thin out and were replaced by roads and buildings as the trolley arrived at their destination. Mario's team, and several other people, stared in awe at the towering skyscrapers that passed them by as they rode through the city. There were lights and billboards everywhere, and so many things going on it was impossible to keep track of it all.

"Now arriving at our destination, Nova City!" came the conductor's voice as the trolley pulled into the station. "We hope you enjoyed your ride, and we hope you choose the Soluna Town Trolley again in the future!"

"Ah, it's nice to finally be out of there," Mario sighed, stretching his legs as everyone filed out of the car.

"Wow… it's so _big _here!" Stubba marveled, turning around and around as he tried to get a view of everything. And he was right, of course; this was by far the biggest and most bustling city they'd been to yet, although it didn't look quite as cultured as Soluna Town.

"It's a good thing we know where the Sun Soul is, or it'd take forever to find it in a place like this," Mario agreed. "Well, let's head out, guys. We've got a circus to crash."

"_Now _you're talkin'!" Hanner cheered with a mischievous grin.

After getting directions from a few random people, Mario's party found out that the circus had set up tent in the center of town. So they set off down the busy street, passing by all manner of interesting buildings. Mario started making a mental list of all the places he'd like to visit here, one day when they weren't occupied with saving the world.

––

_**Starshine Circus**_

_**1:30 pm**_

Nova City turned out to be one of those places that were so huge, time moved forward (or backward) as you passed through them. The sun had dipped a little lower in the sky as the group arrived at a very large park area situated in the middle of the city. There were no buildings here, just grass, some gravel sidewalks, and a few trees sprouting up here and there.

And of course, the enormous circus tent set up in the middle of it.

"Oh, look, Mario! There it is!" alerted Stubba, who had run on ahead and was now pointing urgently off at the tent.

"Wow… that's it, all right," Mario said in awe, staring up at it. He'd never been to an actual circus before, and he wondered if _all _of them were this huge. It was circular and striped red and white, with a little orange flag sticking out of the very top and flapping in the wind. Currently, hundreds of people were crowded outside the tent, chatting eagerly amongst each other. Excitedly, Mario's group started pushing their way up through the crowd until they couldn't get any closer.

"Ooh, hi there! You excited for the show too?" squealed a nerdy-looking Ratooey standing next to Mario. "The Starshine Circus is only the pinnacle of entertainment in Chronoside! I've been wanting to see it my whole life! This will be positively _exuberating!_"

"Uh… yeah, I'm pretty excited," Mario replied, a little off-put by his enthusiasm. "So there's a show about to start, huh? Sounds like we got here just in time… figuratively speaking."

"Hey, listen, partner. You sound like you know a lot about this show… can you tell us anything about the performers?" asked Snatchel.

"What? Oh come on, you gotta know about the performers!" the Ratooey scoffed. "I mean, they're all famous! There's the fire-eater, and the tightrope walkers and the trapeze artists – and the _juggler! _Boy, is she ever a dreamboat!" He started swooning at the mere thought of her.

"A _girl _juggler, huh?" said Hanner, grinning expectantly.

"Don't jump to conclusions, Hanner," Mario sighed.

"But, all that's besides the point," the Ratooey went on. "If you guys knew _anything _about this circus, you'd know the real draw isn't the performers at all."

"It's not?" Mario asked in confusion.

"Of course not. What this show is the _most _famous for is – "

"ATTENTION! MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION, EVERYONE!" came a loud, blaring voice from the entrance to the tent, amplified by a megaphone. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned expectantly to the front to face the one who had spoken.

Mario found himself looking at a very short, blue, eggplant-shaped man standing on a crate so as to be better seen. He had on a very dapper red coat with white pants and gloves, a black top hat nearly as tall as he was, and had a curly handlebar mustache.

"Ooh! There's the ringmaster, Mr. Diavelli! He's famous in his own right!" the Ratooey gushed out.

"Very good," Diavelli spoke into the megaphone. "Now then, I have an important announcement to make. Today's highly anticipated performance of the Starshine Circus… is officially cancelled."

A collective gasp rose up in the crowd.

"_Cancelled?_"

"But _why?_"

"IN FACT," the ringmaster barked impatiently, "all further performances of the Starshine Circus are cancelled until further notice. This circus is going under. Finished. Folded."

"What? This is an _outrage! _I paid good money for this ticket!" the Ratooey snarled, flying into a nerd rage. Most everyone else in the crowd looked equally upset, and several of them began complaining or protesting loudly to Diavelli.

"I HAVE NO FURTHER COMMENT!" he bellowed into the megaphone. "Now then, get off my property! All of you! Go on!" He shooed them away with his hands. The members of the crowd started muttering to each other, and ever so slowly, they began to disperse. Several of them stayed behind to try and get an explanation out of the ringmaster, but he would have none of it.

"The circus is over? For _good?_" Mario said to himself. "But why on earth – this doesn't make any sense."

"Lemme guess," Goomblaine sighed. "We're gonna go up to that guy and ask him what the deal is, and we ain't stopping until we get a straight answer."

"Unless you'd _rather _the world as you know it end, Goomblaine," Mario replied sharply.

The look the Goomba gave him suggested he honestly didn't care either way. Mario rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Fine, then. I'll just go talk to him by myself. You guys wait here, and don't get into any trouble."

So Mario pushed his way up, fighting against the flow of the dispersing crowd as he approached the ringmaster, who was still shouting into his megaphone and threatening various people with legal action if they didn't get out. Finally, the plumber walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, sir – "

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" Diavelli spun around and roared through the megaphone, right into Mario's face. Mario grimaced in pain and covered his ears.

The ringmaster lowered the megaphone before continuing. "I've told you, this performance is cancelled! You cultureless proletarians have no business here! Now get off!"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," Mario muttered. "Look, we're just concerned is all. We just wanted to know _why _the circus is shutting down."

"That's _really _no business of yours," Diavelli said snidely, "but due to certain… cutbacks… this show has become an utter disaster. We've lost our main attractions. We've tried carrying on as we did before, but the shows have had abysmal turnouts ever since. We're just losing money with every performance; no sense dragging it out any more."

"Oh, wow." This, put simply, was a problem. "Boy, I'm sorry about that."

"Oh, _are _you?" Diavelli sneered. "Thank you so much. The performers will be so delighted to hear that. It'll put a little damper on the fact that all our careers and livelihoods are down the drain."

The performers… that reminded him. "Uh, listen," Mario went on awkwardly. "This is going to sound strange, but… is there any chance we could talk to the performers? My friends and I, I mean? We just really wanted to meet all of them. Especially Stubba. He's been so excited – "

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Diavelli screamed into the megaphone once again. For a guy with blue skin, he was turning awfully red. "You don't think I've had to deal with rivaling troupes before? Trying to sneak into my show and steal my greatest innovations? You're not getting anywhere near my performers, and that's that!"

Mario sighed to himself, wracking his brain for another possibility. If the circus left now, it'd be taking the Sun Soul and the Guardian with it. He _couldn't _let that happen. Not when they'd been so close…

"All right. I'm really sorry about all this. But honestly, you have no idea how much this circus means to us… how important it is. Do you really have to quit?" he pressed. "If you're having employment trouble, can't you just hire those people back? Or just hire new people? You could – "

A very small, very bright, and very dangerous light bulb went off in his head.

"You could hire us," he said immediately. "We'd be a valuable addition to your show."

Diavelli looked at him like he'd grown a second head. "What are you getting at, you idiot?"

"Come on, I'm sure you've heard of us. We're… uh… the famous Juggling Mario Brothers."

"Wasn't one of you a girl?"

"…And Sister. Mario Brothers and Sister."

"Well, I'll have you know we already have a juggler in this circus," snapped the very small ringmaster with the very large Napoleon complex. "And frankly, I doubt you could surpass her in ability, no matter how famous you claim to be."

"We're different, I promise," Mario urged. "Look, if you're really about to go under, can you honestly afford to turn us down? If I were you, I'd take us up on this. Seriously."

Diavelli folded his arms, glaring up at the much taller plumber with an unreadable expression.

"No matter how talented you are," he said with finality, "you will _not _replace what I've lost. You will not be sufficient in any way. Most likely, you won't do a thing to help me."

Mario's heart slowly sank.

"…But it's like you say," Diavelli went on, glaring resentfully at the ground. "At this point, I can't sink any lower."

He looked back up at Mario. "I'll draw up your contracts. Wait inside the tent."

Mario's eyes widened. "Oh – really?" he cried, feeling relief wash over him. "Oh, thank you, sir! Honestly! Oh, you have no idea how much – "

"Shut up," Diavelli snapped at him. "This circus still isn't giving any more performances until I'm convinced you'll be a benefit. And don't get your hopes up about _that._"

"We'll help you. I promise we will," Mario assured him. "Oh, but just let me talk to my friends and make sure they don't have a problem with this. Though I can't imagine that they would."

––

"WE'RE GONNA _**WHAT?!**_" screamed all four of Mario's partners.

"OH BOY! OH BOY! OH BOY!" Stubba cheered, racing around in circles. He was the only one who had screamed _happily_.

"Are you outta your _head_, Fat Man?" Goomblaine snarled. "What makes you think I'm degrading myself like this?"

"Yeah, Mario… how can _we _possibly be circus performers?" asked Hanner. "Besides the whole humiliation factor, we'd need some kind of act!"

"Well, yeah… I took care of that too," Mario said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "I figured, since I've got a hammer, and you've got tons of them, Hanner… we could always juggle them. I mean, it can't be _that _hard, right?"

Goomblaine, Hanner and Snatchel all stared at him.

"Mario, I say this with the utmost respect," said Snatchel, "but this is just _stupid _of ya_._"

"I know it is," Mario groaned, sinking to the floor. "I'm _really_ sorry, guys. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing. I couldn't think of any other way."

"No, it's okay, Mario," Hanner sighed. "I mean, you're right. There wasn't much else we could do. Not if the circus is really going under."

"Did you find out _why _they're not performing anymore, Mario?" Stubba asked now that he'd calmed down somewhat.

"Well, the ringmaster said something about cutbacks. I don't know if some people got laid off or what… he's not telling me very much – "

"_Excuse _me!" came a very brusque voice, cutting him off.

Mario and the others turned around to find a large group of angry-looking people marching toward them – judging by their outfits, and the fact that they were inside the tent along with Mario's group, they must have been some of the performers. The one who had spoken was a large, burly Ninji with a curly mustache similar to the ringmaster's. He was wearing a leopard-print leotard.

"You are so-called famous Mario Brothers?" the Ninji demanded in a thick Russian accent. "You are fools whom ringmaster has told us will be joining this troupe?"

"Uh… yes?" Mario said timidly.

"Who are you s'posed to be?" Goomblaine asked snidely.

"Hmph! Young foolish Goomba! I am great _Ninjinsky!_" the Ninji bellowed, flexing his impressive muscles. "Greatest strongman in all the world! And I assure you, you pretenders have no place in this circus!"

He demonstratively prodded Mario forcefully in the stomach, and the plumber let out an "oomph" and fell backwards to the ground. Ninjinsky laughed heartily.

"You see? You are flimsy noodles, all of you! Not fit for rigorous circus life!"

"We're _perfectly _fit for it, thank you very much," Hanner said firmly, folding her arms. "I bet we've worked harder over the past week than you guys have your whole lives."

"Ha! You kiddin'?" laughed one of several Shy Guys who were standing next to Ninjinsky. "You fellas looked like you just walked right off the street! Seriously! Who's gonna think _you _guys are performers? You're not foolin' anybody!"

"Now… guys, you should be nice," came a very timid voice from behind them, and out came floating a dark blue Boo wearing a red sweatband over his forehead and matching wristbands on his arms. "I mean… you're right, they don't _look _much like performers. But who says they're lying? Why would they lie about a thing like this?"

Mario smiled, already deciding he liked this Boo. Ninjinsky, on the other hand, didn't look happy to hear this opinion.

"Young Benny, you are too naïve and foolish for your own good!" he snapped, poking the Boo the same way he'd poked Mario. "They are _troublemakers_, I tell you! Ringmaster is clearly _out _of his mind!"

"Or just desperate. We _all _are," Benny said firmly. Mario thought he could detect a deep sadness in the Boo's voice. "Anyway, if they're going to perform with us, we shouldn't be rude to them like this. We have enough troubles already without being at each other's throats."

Ninjinsky and the Shy Guys glanced at each other, reluctantly deciding Benny was probably right.

"Thanks, Benny. That means a lot to me," Mario said respectfully.

"Eh, whatever. Doesn't mean we trust you yet," the apparent leader of the Shy Guys sniffed. They were all different colors, though he was red, and they wore collars similar to Groove Guys. "I'm Scamp, by the way. Me and my compatriots here are the Trapeze Guys. Don't forget it."

"Nice to meet you," Mario replied. "What do you do, Benny?"

"Oh… I'm the fire-eater, actually," said Benny, blushing a little. "I might not look it, but I'm a pro with fire batons. 'Course, ghosts can't exactly get burned like other people can, so that helps."

"And how 'bout you fellas?" Scamp asked somewhat rudely. "If the boss-man is hirin' ya, he must think you can save the circus… so what exactly do you do, huh?"

"According to the genius here, we're gonna be jugglers," Goomblaine muttered.

Everyone's eyes widened, and they all grew stiff.

"That's… not a good idea," Benny said frankly. "We already have a juggler, and I don't think she'd appreciate you cutting in on her groove like that."

"Why? What's wrong with – "

"Excuse me? Did I just hear what I _think _I just heard?" came a very sharp voice from behind the other performers. "Tell me I didn't. These fakers think they're going to be _jugglers?_"

The other performers, Benny especially, winced and stood back as the owner of the voice floated forward, her arms folded firmly across her chest. Mario's partners stared in confusion, having never seen someone like this before.

Mario was so shocked he did a double take, almost falling over in complete surprise.

"Vivian?"

Could it be? She had the same purple body, tapering off into a ghostly tendril where her legs should have been… she had the same hat, the same gloves, and eyes that refused to be seen from behind her long bangs…

But, no – almost immediately, he realized she wasn't at all the person he was thinking of. This person was taller and more slender, and she carried a proud, almost haughty air about her that would have looked entirely out of place on his old friend. Her hat wasn't the same either; it had gray stripes instead of red, and her crimped hair that reached down to her waist was an almost metallic silver.

He immediately felt a flush of embarrassment as she saw him looking at her.

"I think you have me mistaken for someone else," she said shortly.

"Yeah. I – I guess I did," he replied apologetically. "It's just, I – you are a Shadow Siren, aren't you?"

"What was your first guess?" she snorted, and he was fairly certain she rolled her eyes from behind her bangs.

"Sorry. I just always thought they were really rare."

"Clearly not as rare as you think," she remarked. "Now then. I'm Imogen. And incidentally, I am the _only _juggling act in this circus. Understood?"

"Well, I… I'm sorry you feel that way," Mario said in a very quiet voice, feeling more awkward than ever. "But I'm sure there's room for all of us here."

All the other performers, as well as all of Mario's partners, groaned in embarrassment. Ninjinsky and the Trapeze Guys started whistling and slowly walked away, deciding this was no longer a safe place to be, but Benny stayed where he was.

"Hmph. You go ahead and _think_ that if you want," Imogen said threateningly. "You won't last a day here anyway. But if you do…" she drifted over to Mario, leaning over and glaring at him. "You'd _better _not try and cramp my style. You got that? You will definitely regret it."

"I'll keep it in mind," Mario practically squeaked out. She turned away and looked about to leave, but he couldn't take his eyes off her. Looking at her, he was starting to wonder about something…

"Say, uh… Imogen?" he called her, and she turned impatiently back to him.

"I was just wondering," he began, unsure of how to phrase this. "I met some other Shadow Sirens once, and they all looked like you, except they had different colored hats and hair. And they, uh… they kind of corresponded with these elemental powers that they had." His eyes fell on her silvery hair. "Does that – I mean, do you – "

Before he could finish, Imogen suddenly thrust her palm forward in his direction. All of a sudden, a spiraling gust of wind shot out of her hand and slammed directly into Mario. He let out a yelp as he was thrown back several feet and crashed onto the floor. His partners whipped around and stared at him in alarm.

"That answer your question?" she asked none too kindly.

"Ah… yeah, it does," Mario groaned. Imogen gave him a condescending look, then turned and floated away.

"Sorry about that," Benny sighed once she had gone, helping Mario back up. "She's not usually like this. You just caught us all at a bad time."

"Yeah, right. It must be a real hassle, havin' to deal with a gal like _that _all the time," Snatchel muttered. "You'd better stay away from her, Mario."

Mario gave him a look. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm just lookin' out for you, partner! I don't want you gettin' mixed up with no femme fatale."

"Says the guy with a crush on the Dayzee who wants to _kill _us," Goomblaine snorted.

"Hey, now, that's PERSONAL!" the sheriff snapped, growing red in the face.

"Like I was _saying_," Benny went on,"I know we don't seem like it, but we're all good guys. Don't be too angry at Gen and the others. We're all just at odds after everything that's happened."

"Don't worry about it, Benny," Mario sighed, dusting himself off. "At least there's one person here who doesn't automatically hate us."

Mario would have liked to talk to Benny a little bit more, but it was not to be. At that moment, a long shadow fell over the ground, and the light from outside was blocked off by a figure standing in the entrance to the tent.

"The Famous Juggling Mario Brothers," Diavelli said in a cold voice. "I have prepared your contracts."

––

As Mario soon found out, the various performers, as well as Diavelli himself, all lived and traveled in caravans that were parked in back of the enormous circus tent. Diavelli's also served as his office, and as they stood in it, Mario decided it was _far _too fancy. Various framed pictures of past performers were hanging on the wall, which, like his desk, was polished red oak. For some reason, the desk also had several candles on it that were flickering in the dim light. Diavelli was sitting behind the desk, his hands folded in complete and utter seriousness.

"I should inform you of what you are agreeing to," he began. "You see, I hold this circus to extremely rigorous standards. There are things here that no other show is privy to. Things that no one else may know about. If other circuses were to get word of my secrets, I would be ruined."

"We won't say a word about anything here. No problem," Mario interpreted.

"It's not that simple," Diavelli went on icily. "I cannot take _any_ chances. I cannot trust anyone with matters like this, not even my own performers. I can't risk them gallivanting about and telling others of my secrets… so I do not allow them to leave. Once they are here, they're here to stay."

Mario blinked. "What… what are you saying?"

"I think he's saying… we're signing _life _contracts," Hanner said in a wavering voice.

"It cannot be any other way," the ringmaster snapped. "You may already know too much. By signing these contracts, you agree to remain under my employment for the rest of your lives. Unless I agree to terminate said contracts. Which I won't."

Mario stared at him incredulously. "But – but you can't do that! That's not fair!"

"If you do not accept the conditions, then stop wasting my time and get out!" Diavelli bellowed, slamming a fist on his desk and pointing to the door with his other hand. Mario and his partners all winced and drew back.

The plumber's head was reeling. They couldn't possibly accept this, could they? They couldn't stay here forever. Even if they found the Guardian, there were still other ones out there… and what about after that? He could never go home again? He could never see Luigi, or Peach?

No. Contract or not, he _wasn't _staying here forever. And he wouldn't let his friends stay here forever either. There was no force in the world that could make him do that.

"All right… fine," he sighed, a mounting feeling of dread building up in him. "We accept. We'll sign."

His partners stared at him. "Mario…" Stubba whimpered.

"Trust me, guys," Mario said softly. "I know what I'm doing."

Diavelli nodded. He reached under his desk and pulled out five pieces of paper, covered in fine print. He held out a pen to Mario, and realizing he had to be the leader here, Mario reluctantly took it from him, and after a moment's hesitation, signed his name on one of the papers.

He let out a shiver as he saw the ink from the pen was dark red.

Not a word spoken between any of them, Mario's partners took the pen one by one and signed the other papers. Looking back, Mario realized he should have suspected something when even Stubba had to sign his own contract.

"Rehearsals start tomorrow," Diavelli said tonelessly once everyone had finished signing. "Be there on time, or I will be very upset."

And he stood up and swept out of the caravan, leaving them completely alone.

There was a moment of silence… and then Hanner burst into frightened tears.

"Mario… being in the circus doesn't seem like much fun anymore," Stubba whispered.

"Life contracts… what have we done?" Hanner whimpered. Even Snatchel was looking terrified, and although Goomblaine tried to appear indifferent, he wasn't doing a good job.

"Guys. Listen to me," Mario said firmly, trying to ignore the fright and uncertainty that he himself was feeling. "There is _nothing _that is going to force us to stay here for the rest of our lives. That was just a contract… just a piece of paper."

But as he saw the looks in his partners' eyes, he knew they didn't believe a word he was saying.

And honestly, neither did he.

––––

**A/N: **Over 100K words! WOOOOOOOO!

And before you ask, no, Imogen is not the next partner/Guardian. She's just an OC I stuck in 'cause I like her. :P


	25. Chapter 4, Part II

**A/N: **Well, I certainly had fun reading everyone's guesses on who the next partner is. I will say, one of you was right. And by the end of this part you'll know who.

_**––**__**––**_

_**Starshine Circus**_

_**1:30 pm**_

Since Mario and company had no caravan of their own, and Diavelli was in no mood to get them one, they ended up having to share the one that belonged to Benny and Imogen. You can imagine how well that went down.

"You _have _to be joking me," Imogen said in a dangerously flat voice. "_Whose _brilliant idea was this? This is just adding insult to injury!"

"Trust me, we're not thrilled about it either," Goomblaine replied stiffly before the other partners could shut him up.

"We're really sorry about this, you guys," Mario sighed to the Boo and the Shadow Siren. "If it helps, we're not planning on staying here very long."

"Well, I'm fine with it," said Benny, who was clearly the designated peacekeeper among the entire troupe. "Having some more company would be nice."

"Fine. Just stay the heck away from my stuff," Imogen sniffed, turning away from them. "And hope for your own sake you don't get my mirror dirty."

_**––**_

When the rough equivalent of a day had passed, and Mario's party had gotten up from a not-very-restful sleep, they wandered into the enormous tent to find the other performers were already there, hard at work rehearsing. High up above were rows and rows of seats circling the periphery, stadium style, but they were all currently empty.

"Well, at least we get to watch the professionals at work," Hanner said optimistically. She and the others watched as Scamp and the Trapeze Guys swung back and forth high above their heads, diving from one trapeze to another and often catching each other in midair.

"HARUMPH! So, the noodles have decided to show up after all!" came the thunderous voice of Ninjinsky. Mario turned and saw him straining under the weight of an enormous barbell at least twice his size.

"Well, of course. We're part of this show now," Mario replied as he and his partners walked up. "So where do we rehearse?"

"Anywhere, as long as it's not near me," said Imogen. She was using her powers to put on a very impressive juggling display, able to keep almost a dozen balls in the air at the same time by firing jets of wind up at them. Even as they were all airborne she was able to make them circle around in an intricate series of patterns, crisscrossing and loop-de-looping flawlessly.

"Boy, that's _cool_," said Stubba, looking both awed and jealous.

"You think it's _cool?_" she snorted. "I'm _supposed _to use these powers in combat, to strike fear into the hearts of my foes. But as you can see, that hasn't really worked out."

"Well, even so," Mario spoke up, "that's a really impressive act. You should be proud."

"I reckon she's proud enough already," Snatchel grumbled.

The five of them eventually set up near one corner of the tent, right next to Benny, who was busy twirling a pair of flaming batons around. He winked encouragingly at them as they arrived.

"Okay, guys… now remember, it doesn't have to be perfect," Mario addressed his group as they all circled around. "Just good enough that Diavelli doesn't throw us out for a few days."

"In other words, we need a miracle," Hanner sighed.

"Something like that, yeah."

They basically created their act as they went along. They all stood in a wide circle, and Hanner, who supplied all the hammers, threw them out to the others in a pre-selected order. Then everyone would throw each of theirs to someone else, and so on. Back and forth they went, crossing each other in midair, until several minutes later they all went back to Hanner. It was predictably a disaster the first several times through, but slowly but surely they got the hang of it. After a few hours of practice they had even learned how to make some pretty cool patterns in the air.

"Hmm… you guys aren't bad," Benny observed. "Still, I doubt it'll be enough to convince Diavelli to reopen the show."

"Ha! Are you joking? We're awesome!" Hanner laughed confidently. "I bet we knock Diavelli's socks off when he sees us!"

"Is that so?" came a chilling voice. Mario and his partners (and Benny) whipped around in fright to see Diavelli standing behind them, hands folded behind his back, glaring up at them.

"I've come to observe my latest investment," he said steadily. "Don't be shy. Show me why the Famous Juggling Mario Brothers are so famous."

Mario and the others all looked nervously at each other. Mario decided he would be more comfortable performing in front of a full house than this one man.

"Uh… all right, guys. You heard him," he said shakily. "Let's do it."

They all nodded, and the show started. As nervous as they were, they had rehearsed enough that now they knew their entire act by heart. Mario caught each and every hammer that was thrown his way and threw them off himself without missing a beat. His partners all did their part flawlessly as well, and slowly but surely they grew confident smiles on their faces.

Mario was even impressing himself now. Diavelli _had _to like their act, didn't he?

Finally, Hanner caught the last hammer out of the air as they finished their performance. All five of them turned to face Diavelli expectantly.

"Ta-da!" Mario sang. Goomblaine shot him a glare.

Diavelli was utterly expressionless.

"Terrible. Absolute garbage."

Mario deflated. "_What?_"

"You heard me! That so-called act of yours is utter drivel. You're a bunch of no-talent hacks and I was an idiot to ever think of hiring you."

Stubba looked horrified. Hanner and Snatchel just looked annoyed.

"And that goes for the rest of you!" the ringmaster went on, his voice rising to address all the performers. "You're all miserable excuses for performers! You couldn't keep this circus afloat if your lives depended on it! Having to support all of you is just another thorn in my side!"

He turned back to Mario. "You'd better hope I can find someone with _real _talent," he said in a dangerous voice. "Because you're not going anywhere. And trust me, I will make you miserable for what you're costing me."

And he swept out of the tent, leaving everyone to stare incredulously after him.

"Uh… that didn't go down quite like I was hoping," said Hanner.

_**––**_

After that, all the performers trudged back to their caravans in a dejected mood. Not knowing what else to do, Mario and his friends, along with Benny and Imogen, sat around the little table in their caravan, wondering where to go from here.

"Don't take it personally, guys… Diavelli doesn't like any of our acts. Or any of us personally, for that matter," Benny sighed, tracing a circle in the table with his finger. "He… well, he's an awful man. Pure and simple. It's not a big secret."

"Well, if he's such a jerk, then why the heck did you guys sign life contracts with him?" asked Hanner.

"In case you couldn't tell, we're all rejects from society. We've got nowhere else to go," Imogen replied flatly. "Like Benny? He's a Boo who can't scare. When he tries, he scares _himself_."

"I just don't like scaring, okay? I'm no good at it anyway." Benny let out an angry huff. "I mean seriously, who says all members of a species have to like the same thing, huh?"

"Oh, I feel ya there, partner," Snatchel nodded in agreement.

"Well… maybe this is a good thing, then. For you guys, anyway," Mario suggested. "If Diavelli wants to close the show down, won't he release all you guys from your contracts?"

"Oh, I _wish_," Imogen snorted. "That's what I was hoping for all along. I was _counting _on it. But no, he's keeping us all prisoner here until he finds something that _will _save the show. No, we're not going anywhere. And neither are you guys."

Mario sighed, gazing at his lap and pondering all of this.

"Look, since obviously none of you guys are gonna think of askin' this," Goomblaine said impatiently, "why did this dumb show close down in the first place? Why are we all just sittin' around here?"

"Yeah… that was never made very clear," Hanner admitted. "What happened around here so you guys can't even put on a show anymore?"

Benny and Imogen glanced at each other as Mario and the others looked at them expectantly. Clearly, this was information privy only to members of the circus. How much did they trust these strange newcomers?

"Well… you guys have heard Diavelli talk about the 'cutbacks', right?" Benny asked reluctantly.

Mario stared at him. "Yeah…"

"Let's just say the cutbacks weren't exactly his idea."

Mario blinked in surprise. "What?"

"Look… no matter how impressive you think we performers are, we've never been the real draw of this show," the blue Boo explained. "Really, it's always been the most famous for its rare and exotic animals."

"Rare animals?" Mario repeated. He was pretty sure he hadn't seen any of those around here.

"Oh yeah. Animals from every corner of the globe. Things you've never even heard of before. You name it, we had it."

"So what happened to them all?" Stubba asked curiously.

"Diavelli certainly thinks _he _knows," Imogen muttered. "I'm sure you've noticed by now how… _paranoid _he is. He's obsessed with the idea of someone breaking into the circus and stealing everything that's important to him, trying to run him out of business."

"So… he thinks somebody made off with all them critters?" Snatchel interpreted. "Well, what do _you _fellers think?"

"It's the only thing that makes sense, really," Benny said quietly, gazing down at the ground.

Mario glanced at him. He was looking all sad again… what was up with him, anyway?

"Anyway, without the animals, there's no show," Imogen concluded. "That's pretty much all there is to it."

Mario's party all glanced at each other. "Well… geez, that's pretty unfortunate," was all Mario could think to say.

"Yeah, it is," Imogen agreed. "Now, I think you guys had better stop asking any more questions."

She stood up and floated over to the door, along with Benny.

"Where are you guys going?" asked Stubba.

"We're going to rehearse some more," Benny said with a shrug. "It's not like there's anything else we can do with our time."

"Might as well come with," Imogen said frankly.

Mario's team reluctantly stood up and followed the two of them out the door, but before they'd even walked halfway back to the tent they slowed to a stop. Making sure nobody else could hear, they crowded around in a circle, eager to discuss what they'd just learned.

"Well, whaddaya make outta that," Snatchel remarked, shaking his head. "That crazy ringmaster thinks somebody nabbed each and every one a' them animals a' his… who'd believe a nutty old yarn like that?"

Mario was looking thoughtful. "Well… I would, for one."

Everyone stared at him.

"Please tell me you're lying," said Goomblaine.

"I mean it, guys. Listen, Benny had a point. There isn't much other way all those animals could have disappeared without anyone knowing what happened to them."

He folded his arms. "And furthermore… I think I know who did it."

Everyone was silent.

"Remember what Imogen said?" Mario pressed. "After the animals were gone, she was _counting _on Diavelli to shut the circus down and terminate everyone's contracts."

"You think _she _did all this?" Hanner exclaimed.

"She was trying to help the other guys… she just did it in the wrong way," the plumber decided. "…And she may have had an ulterior motive. I'm still not completely sure I trust her."

His partners glanced at each other.

"Well… if she _did _do it, there's no way she'd admit it to us," Hanner reminded him. "How would we find out for sure?"

"Well, I do have one idea… it's a long shot, but it's all I can think of."

Very slowly, Mario pulled out the Aeon Hourglass.

"…I ain't followin'," said Snatchel.

"Listen, everybody. You know how Dayside and Nightside are independent of each other… something that happens in one place might not happen in the other," Mario tried to explain. "Remember? That's how we got past the collapsing tunnel in Mustard Mines."

"What's that gotta do with anything?" Goomblaine asked shortly.

"Well, think about it. Maybe in Nightside… Imogen never stole those animals. Not yet, anyway. If we can talk to her there, and find out if she's _planning _anything… then we'd know for sure."

"…Are you sure about this, Mario?" Hanner asked uneasily.

"Guys, this is the only thing left we can do. Remember, we still haven't found out anything about the Sun Soul or the Guardian, because we've been stuck here _rehearsing _all day. The way I see it, we're not going to make any progress until the circus is up and running… and that won't happen until we find out where those animals are!"

No one responded for a long moment. They seemed to be thinking this over carefully.

"Well… you're right, Mario. There's nothing else to do around here, that's for sure," Hanner finally agreed. "Maybe in Nightside there's some clue about where the Sun Soul is."

"Not to mention the Guardian… I just hope we ain't been dead wrong about where they were," said Snatchel.

"And then we can find out where all the animals went, and save the circus!" Stubba added eagerly.

"Uh, yeah… that too, I guess," Mario decided. His partners all crowded around as he turned the hourglass over, and they all disappeared.

_****__**––**_

_**Starshine Circus**_

_**1:30 am**_

"All right, we're here!" said Hanner. "Now we just gotta HOLY CRAP what's going on?"

They were standing outside the circus tent, just as they had been before – but now hundreds upon hundreds of spectators were crowding around as well.

"Step right up, step right up, ladies and gentlemen!" came the brash voice of Diavelli as he shouted into his megaphone. "Tonight's performance of the world famous Starshine Circus is about to begin! Have your tickets ready!"

Mario and his partners all stared at each other.

"Well… this is a good sign, right?" Mario ventured.

An uncountable sum of voices floated around Mario's head as the massive crowd of guests pushed and shoved their way inside. Diavelli was almost invisible amongst them all, but Mario kept his eye on him as he and the others fought their way through the crowd and approached him.

"Uh, excuse me, Mr. Diavelli, sir!" Mario greeted him. "Uh, where do you want us performers to be right now, sir?"

Diavelli turned around and stared up at him. "What on earth are you talking about? Who are you all supposed to be?"

Mario's heart skipped a beat as he remembered that this Diavelli had never seen them before.

"Uh… we're…" he struggled to think of something. "We're the Famous Juggling Mario Brothers, remember? Come on, sir, we're part of your show."

"What? Don't be ridiculous! Stop lying to me!" the ringmaster spat at him. "Do you think I'm a fool? I'll have you know I have the list of performers right here – " He pulled out a clipboard. " – and _you _are most certainly not – "

Suddenly, he fell silent. Mario and company watched with their breaths held as Diavelli's eyes were drawn to the clipboard in his hand. He furrowed his brow in confusion as he studied something he apparently hadn't seen written down before.

"What in the…" He turned to look at Mario. "I have no idea why, but the Famous Juggling Mario Brothers are listed in the cast."

Mario broke into a relieved grin. Diavelli just shook his head.

"Fine. Whatever. Go and get into costume."

Mario looked down at his grungy overalls. "Oh… well, we are in costume."

"Then go inside with the other performers!" Diavelli barked at him. "Honestly, the show's about to start! I won't tolerate any mess-ups from you lot!"

"Okay, okay, fine," Mario said quickly, ushering his partners inside.

Now that there was actually an audience inside the tent, the place seemed _much _bigger than it had before. Mario gulped as he watched the endless stream of people walking up the stairs, filing into the rows of seats that stood far above their heads, their voices echoing through the large space.

"Wow… _look _at all those people!" Stubba marveled.

"Yeah… all those people who are gonna be watching _us_," Hanner said nervously.

Stubba frowned. "Oh yeah… I forgot about that."

Mario led his partners over to the backstage area in the corner of the tent, where the guests couldn't see them. As they got there, they saw that all the other performers were already standing back there, waiting intently.

And that just confirmed what Mario had been afraid of all along. _All _the performers were there. Ninjinsky, Scamp… even Benny and Imogen. That meant none of them could possibly be the Guardian they were looking for.

"Excuse me? What do you think you're doing back here? This area is for performers only!" Imogen's demanding voice snapped him out of his thoughts. She was glaring at them with her arms folded, and the other performers were staring at them, clearly not recognizing them.

"But we _are _performers," Mario sighed wearily. "Look, I know this might not make any sense, but just trust me."

"Trust you? I've never even – "

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" came a booming voice.

The audience quickly fell silent as the amplified sound of a drumroll reverberated throughout the stage. Mario and the others crowded around eagerly, watching the darkened floor and waiting for what would happen next.

With a click and a hum, a large, blinding spotlight switched on, illuminating the figure of Diavelli standing center stage, holding a whip in his hand.

"Welcome, one and all, to this exciting and thrilling production of the Starshine Circus!" he shouted. "I am your ringmaster, and your guide throughout this magical experience, Mr. Diavelli! Now, please sit back and relax… and let us give you a show you will never forget!"

The audience burst into a deafening wave of cheers and applause… and the show was on.

Mario's party spent most of the time sitting backstage, watching as the others performed their acts one by one. It really was a memorable and breathtaking experience, getting to see these professional performers from so close. They watched in rapt attention, gasping along with the audience as the Trapeze Guys performed their high-flying acrobatics, swinging and flying from flimsy metal bars suspended from the ceiling, the spotlights following them all the while. They clapped and whistled as Ninjinsky impressed the entire audience with his incredible feats of strength, lifting barbell after enormous barbell over his head and then twirling them around as effortlessly as though they were batons.

Even the performers they hadn't met so well put on quite a show. A hushed orchestra played a suspenseful tune as a duo of Toads performed their death-defying tightrope act, and loud strains of calliope music filled the air as another Toad in a ballerina costume rode a Chain Chomp through enormous hoops of fire.

Then, of course, there was Imogen. The audience really got a kick when, instead of walking onstage like the others, she rose up out of the floor from a puddle of shadow, along with her three assistants, a Blue, Red and Yellow Magiblot. As Diavelli loudly introduced her to the audience, each Magiblot produced a large handful of shadowy lumps in the shape of balls, and one by one, tossed them at Imogen. At first she was content to juggle them normally, but finally she whipped out her powers and lifted the balls into the air with her blasts of wind, juggling them without even touching them. As the balls flew back and forth between her and her assistants, circling and passing each other in complex patterns, the audience burst into insane applause.

Benny's act was, if anything, even more impressive. He floated nonchalantly onto the stage, holding his batons in his hand, and then lifted them above his head as they spontaneously burst into flame. He twirled them around, throwing them high up in the air and catching them, surrounding himself in a blazing ring of fire. He gulped the fire down effortlessly and then spewed it out in a blast, causing the audience to shriek in astonishment.

Mario was having such a good time, he almost forgot what was coming next.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen! May I present to you the latest addition to our show! These mysterious travelers from far-off lands promise to astound and amaze you! Introducing… the Famous Juggling Mario Brothers!"

"And _Sister! _Famous Juggling Mario Brothers _and Sister! _Geez, how hard is that to remember?" Hanner shouted over the audience's applause.

"Come on, guys, we're up," Mario groaned, leading his team out onto the stage. The blinding spotlight followed them as they went, drowning out all the other light and making Mario unable to even see the audience.

"Okay, guys, just like we practiced," he said softly as they all took their places. "It's now or never."

They all swallowed hard and nodded. The audience watched in anticipation as Hanner pulled out one of her hammers, her hand shaking, and threw it at Mario.

He caught it.

The music began to pick up, and suddenly, the five of them were feeling right at home. The audience started clapping as they dived into their performance, tossing the hammers around at each other, back and forth, choreographed perfectly, just the way they'd rehearsed. Nobody even dropped a single hammer.

Mario was grinning like an idiot. This was easy! Why had he been so worried?

Finally, after what seemed like mere seconds but had probably been much longer, Hanner caught the last hammer out of the air and the audience burst into the same wild applause they'd given everyone else. Mario's team turned to face them and bowed deeply, and Mario felt himself flushing with exhilaration.

"Wow… you guys were really something," Benny remarked as they joined him backstage.

"Not as good as me, though," Imogen sniffed. "Seriously, who are you guys? Does Diavelli not feel the need to tell us when he hires somebody else?"

"And _now_, ladies and gentlemen!" came Diavelli's voice. "The moment you've all been waiting for! The crowning glory of this fine show! You are about to witness something that few people have ever seen before! Allow me to present the Starshine Circus's amazing assortment of legendary creatures – the rarest animals in all the world!"

Mario immediately snapped to attention. So this circus really did have animals in it… Benny and Imogen hadn't been lying about that.

"First up! Allow me to present the amazing, the enormous… _Electro Piranha!_"

The audience gasped as a _gigantic _Piranha Plant suddenly came shooting out of the ground in front of Diavelli. It was colored yellow, and rather than being covered in dots, it was adorned in green lightning bolt shapes. It let out a loud, intimidating roar as sparks flew from its body.

Snatchel sat bolt upright in his chair, lifting his hat up from over his eyes and staring. Hanner and Stubba's jaws dropped.

"What _is _that thing?" the Hammer Sis cried. "I've never _ever _seen a Piranha Plant like that before!"

"Neither have I," Mario marveled. "Goomblaine, can you Tattle on that thing?"

"It's not showin' up on here," the Goomba announced, punching in a bunch of buttons to no avail.

Mario frowned. "It's not? It must be _really _rare…"

Meanwhile, the Electro Piranha had finished spooking the audience and dived back under the ground.

"And next," Diavelli announced, "a deadly leviathan from deep beneath the ocean, unseen for hundreds of years! Please welcome – the _Rainbow Blooper!_"

Suddenly, a group of circus laborers appeared from the other side of the stage, dragging an equally gigantic Blooper out with them. But rather than being white, this Blooper's skin seemed to shine with all the colors of the rainbow. The audience marveled and applauded as it emitted a loud trumpeting sound, squirting out a fountain of ink.

"…And I've definitely never seen one of those before either," Mario decided.

"You guys _must _be new," Imogen said snidely. "Everybody knows the Starshine Circus is the most famous for its rare animals. Without them, we'd be just another run-of-the-mill show. Those things are all that's keeping us afloat."

"Oh, really…" said Mario. It was only now that he remembered what he'd been meaning to talk to her about all along.

"So, you're saying… without those animals, the circus would go under?" he ventured.

"Probably, yeah. What's it to you?"

"Well, it's just… you know… what with the whole life contract thing and all… that might be a _good _thing, right?"

Imogen stared at him.

"Imogen…" Mario began as cautiously as he could. "Just hypothetically… you've never, like… thought of _doing _anything to those animals, have you?"

"_What?_"

"Well, if this show is so dependent on the animals… if you got rid of them, all of you could go free, couldn't you?"

Imogen looked utterly appalled.

"What are you suggesting?" she snapped. "You think I would do something to those poor things just to get us out of here?"

Mario was taken aback. "Well, I…"

"Well for your information, that's not how it works," she hissed. "Diavelli's got us all stuck here for life, no matter _what _happens. And even if that weren't true, I'd never bring those animals into this. That's disgusting."

Mario frowned in disappointment. "So you never even had the idea to…"

"No. Now stop talking about it. That's a ridiculous idea."

She turned away and folded her arms, refusing to speak to him anymore. Mario glanced back at his partners.

"Uh, okay… I guess we were wrong about that."

"So she _didn't _take the animals?" Stubba said in confusion. "But then who did?"

"Don't tell me we came here for nothing… that was the only lead we had," Hanner complained.

Mario sighed deeply, leaning back hopelessly in his chair. He barely even watched as a series of other amazing creatures – a three-headed Chain Chomp, a fire-breathing Pokey – made their appearance on stage one at a time.

He was starting to think he'd been completely wrong about this… maybe those animals hadn't been stolen after all.

There was something going on here that he didn't know about – something that Benny and Imogen were refusing to tell him. But what could it be? And how could the Sun Soul and the Guardian possibly tie into it all?

_**––**_

After the show had finally wound all the way down, and the last few spectators were filing out of the tent and returning to their homes, Mario's team and the rest of the troupe were gathered around in front of the group of parked caravans a little ways away from the tent.

"Well, another successful show, guys," Benny addressed the group. "We all did a fantastic job, I think."

"Hey, where's Diavelli?" asked Hanner. "Isn't he going to congratulate us?"

Everyone raised an eyebrow at her.

"…_What? _I was joking!"

"So now that that's over, what do we do?" Mario asked.

"_I'm _goin' to bed," Scamp announced firmly. "The star a' this show needs his beauty rest, after all."

"The great Ninjinsky would do well with some repose!" the Ninji strongman agreed. "I have worked harder tonight than rest of you combined!"

"Yeah, I'm pretty bushed myself," Benny sighed, stifling a yawn. "I guess we'd better turn in. Tomorrow's another night, after all. More of the same."

"Yippee," Imogen grumbled as all the performers turned and slowly sauntered back to their eagerly-awaited beds. Everyone but Mario's team, that is.

Imogen seemed to notice them standing where they were, reluctant to move. "Hey, you guys comin' or what?" she asked impatiently.

"I think we'll stick around here for a little longer. Thanks, Imogen," Mario replied. The Shadow Siren gave an apathetic shrug and floated off.

"Well, _that _was all a big waste a' time," Goomblaine snorted once the performers were all out of earshot. "We didn't find out squat about the Sun Soul or anything!"

"Yeah, and we still dunno what happened to all the animals," Stubba said sadly.

"C'mon, fellers, we ain't gettin' backed into a corner this easy," Snatchel admonished, folding his arms firmly. "There's gotta be somethin' else we can do… right, Mario?"

But at this point, the plumber's confidence was flagging dangerously. All he could do was shake his head.

"I just don't know, you guys," he admitted, looking hopelessly at his partners. "I'm all out of ideas. The Sun Soul, the Guardian… we've still got no leads at all. I don't know what else to do…"

Suddenly, Hanner perked up and started blinking rapidly. "Do you guys hear that?"

Everyone turned to see that Hanner was focusing her attention on the deserted circus tent several yards away. They'd assumed it was empty now, but to their surprise, there was a very distinct voice coming from inside it. It was shouting, and it sounded furious.

"That's Diavelli!" Mario realized.

All five of them raced over to the tent, but just as they were about to come bursting in Mario skidded to a stop and hastily motioned for his partners to do the same. With the utmost caution, taking care not to make a sound, they crowded around the back entrance and peered inside.

Where minutes before the tent had been completely filled and bustling with activity, it was now eerily empty. The seats were all deserted, the lights were off, and the floor was littered with discarded soda cups and popcorn bags.

But it wasn't completely empty. Standing in the middle of the floor was Diavelli, and he was glaring acidly up at the Electro Piranha.

"That was the _worst performance you've ever given!_" he bellowed at it, flushing red once again. "Honestly, do you get _stupider _with every show we do? You couldn't even convince a half-blind Goomba with that amateur act of yours!"

Mario's team stared in confusion. Why was Diavelli yelling at the Piranha, of all things? And why was it reacting to him so strangely? Despite its massive size, it was cringing away from him and even seemed to be whimpering. Mario was sure he'd never heard a Piranha _whimper _before…

"Not _one _of those animal acts was convincing. But _this _– " he smacked the Piranha's stem. "This was the worst one of all! Piranhas don't make noises like that, didn't you know? If you don't start wising up, it's only going to be a matter of time before everyone figures you out for the phony you are! And then where will _I _be?"

He grabbed the Piranha by the stem and started violently shaking it. Rather than try to defend itself, the monstrous beast did nothing but pitifully lower its head –

And then, to the complete and utter shock of everyone who was watching, it became enveloped in a cloud of suffocating purple smoke that seemed to come from nowhere.

Stubba blinked furiously. "What's – "

Mario's blood froze. He knew what was happening. His hand flew to his chest as his eyes bulged in complete terror.

When the smoke cleared, the Piranha was gone.

Standing in its place was something that could only be described as a bright pink bedsheet. It – or rather, _she_ – had a head full of long blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. She had no hands at all, and her "arms" were merely folds of the sheet. Around her neck was a ruffled red-and-white collar, like something a clown would wear.

Diavelli grabbed her by the collar and yanked her down to his eye level, glaring at her as she whimpered in misery and guilt.

"When are you going to start being _useful_, Dulia?"

**__****––__****––**

**A/N: **Did anyone figure it out beforehand? Tell me! :D


	26. Chapter 4, Part III

_**Starshine Circus**_

_**1:30 am **_

"It – she – it's a Duplighost!" Mario gawked.

"So _that's _where all those crazy animals came from!" Hanner realized.

"Well, I'll be a yellabellied Beezo," Snatchel growled. "That feller ain't got a single rare critter in this dang circus! He was just havin' that girl posin' as them!"

"I – I'm really sorry, Mr. Diavelli. I really am!" Dulia stammered out. "It's just you have me turn into so many different animals, sometimes I get them mixed up – "

"SHUT UP!" Diavelli snarled at her, slapping her across the face and causing Mario's party to recoil. "That's not an excuse! You know you're the singular reason this circus is still in business – which means it's _your _responsibility to get your act down for the sake of all the other performers! Or do you not _care _what happens to them?"

"No! I do! I do!" Dulia cried out.

The ringmaster folded his arms and turned away from her. "You're pathetic, Dulia," he sniffed. "You can't do a thing right. Sometimes I think I'd be better off getting rid of you and finding another Duplighost – one with actual _talent_." He looked over his shoulder and glared up at her. "Would you _like _that? Do you _want _to go back to the way you were before I found you? A worthless little vagabond wandering from town to town?"

Dulia started looking panicked and shook her head furiously. "No – no, please, Mr. Diavelli! Don't throw me out!" she begged. "This is the only home I've ever had – please, I'll try harder next time! I promise!"

"I'll believe that when I see it. Now get out of my sight," Diavelli snapped, pointing firmly in the direction of the caravans. Dulia lowered her head dejectedly and slowly began walking out. Realizing she was heading straight for them, Mario's team scampered out of the way and off to the side of the tent, hiding in the shadows.

"I can't believe he's so mean to her," Stubba said quietly. "Why would he do that?"

"So he treats everybody in this dump like dirt. Big whoop," Goomblaine muttered.

"But guys – you know what this means, don't you?" Hanner said urgently, trying to get to the point. "She's our Guardian! She has to be!"

"That sure would explain what happened to them animals," Snatchel agreed. "Nobody stole 'em at all – they just don't exist in that half a' the world anymore!"

Mario wasn't listening to any of this. His head was reeling in fear and agony.

_Why? Why, of all things, did it have to be a Duplighost?_

He snapped back to attention when he heard several familiar voices coming from the tent entrance. He looked up and saw Dulia was standing out there, and Benny and Imogen had suddenly appeared in front of her.

"G-Guys?" the little Duplighost stammered.

"Hey, Dulia… we heard what Diavelli said to you," Benny said softly, floating over to her. "Look… don't pay attention to him, okay? He never has a good word to say about any of us."

"Yeah, you did a terrific job, kiddo," Imogen agreed. "If there really were such thing as an Electro Piranha, I'd be fooled in a second."

Dulia was visibly fighting back tears. "Oh, Benny… Gen…" she sniffled. "Thank you, but… I'm afraid of what he's going to do to me if I keep disappointing him. I just want to make him happy… I don't know what to do anymore."

"What are you two doing here?" came a sharp voice, and suddenly Diavelli had come storming out of the tent after them. The three performers jumped in fear and scrambled out of his way.

"You know you're not allowed to talk to her, and that's final!" the ringmaster snapped at Benny and Imogen. "Now get out of here before I do something I'll regret!"

He grabbed Dulia by the arm and hauled her away, leaving her to gaze wistfully back at her friends before she vanished into the darkness. Benny and Imogen glared silently after Diavelli for a long moment before fading from sight and sinking into the ground, respectively.

"This is crazy," Hanner muttered. "Diavelli would never let us get near her… what are we supposed to do now?"

"Why, why, why," Mario lamented, clutching at his head. "She can't be a Duplighost… I can't handle this…"

All his partners stared at him. "Mario, what are you – " Hanner began before it seemed to dawn on her. "Oh, geez, Mario… _please _tell me this isn't another Stubba thing."

"Stubba thing?" Snatchel repeated.

"What about me?" asked Stubba.

Mario sighed. "I'm sorry, guys… I really am… it's just, it's hard to explain…"

Hanner would have none of it. "Okay, fine, Mario," she said in exasperation. "I give up. Just tell me, what horrible thing could have possibly happened to you in the past to make you not like Duplighosts?"

"One of them stole my identity," Mario replied tonelessly.

Everyone gave him a strange look. "…What?" asked Hanner.

"He stole my identity," he repeated. "My name, my body, _everything_. My friends all thought he was me. And… I ended up having to fight them all."

Mario felt his throat tightening up as he recounted that horrible chapter in his life. He'd never completely gotten over his friends betraying him like that… and he'd _never _had so much taken away from him, so much that he'd started to question his very self. In the blink of an eye he'd gone from the famous Mushroom Kingdom champion to a nameless, friendless shadow, walking alone through the darkness…

The pained look on his face obviously didn't escape his partners.

"Well, okay… I guess that is a pretty good reason," Hanner decided. "But did you see her, Mario? How sad and scared she looked? I'm pretty sure stealing someone's identity is the _last _thing on her mind."

She was right, of course. Mario had very quickly noticed how miserable Dulia had looked, and he knew exactly how she must feel; practically a prisoner to an ungrateful employer, kept hidden away from the outside world for selfish reasons, wondering whether she was a real person or just an act…

And suddenly he knew why the look on her face had seemed so familiar: it was loneliness…

She looked exactly the way he'd felt.

––

The entire time Mario's party was watching Dulia, they had no idea that they themselves were being watched. By two separate parties, no less.

Jaff, Pell and Nobb were currently crouched in the shadows some distance away, glaring at their red-clad foe and his group of friends.

"How typical. Of course, Mario has found the location of the next Sun Soul already... and the Guardian as well," Jaff spat in disgust. "Clearly we've done nothing but underestimate him until now. He just won't go down."

"What do you want us to do, Jaff?" asked Pell.

In response, the lead Darkstrider flexed his claws in anticipation.

"What do you _think _we're going to do? Attack him now, while his guard is down. And when we've taken care of him, we go after the Duplighost. She has no power yet; she's defenseless."

Grinning sadistically, Pell and Nobb crowded behind Jaff as he crouched, tensing his muscles and preparing to charge at Mario...

When suddenly he caught something out of the corner of his eye.

Someone else was hiding in the darkness several yards away from them, also watching Mario and unseen by anyone else. Jaff blinked in surprise as he recognized the Crazee Dayzee they'd first seen while climbing Mt. Tourmaline. Three towering forms were standing behind her, which could only have been her ever-present Putrid Piranhas.

Jaff had been completely unprepared for this opportunity. King Shroude had given them orders to confront her the next time they saw her, and here she was.

"Jaff? What's wrong?" Nobb whispered.

"Hang on a moment," Jaff hissed to the other two. "I've just sensed another opportunity… Mario can wait for now."

Pell and Nobb looked at him unsurely, following behind him as he scampered up to the Crazee Dayzee.

"Ahem – excuse me!" he said importantly. The Dayzee started and turned to look at him, and as she saw him her eyes narrowed in distrust.

"Your name is Maizee, is it not?" said Jaff. "You're the one who's been following Mario all over and attempting to claim the Sun Souls for yourself."

Maizee glared dangerously at Jaff. "Well, it seems my reputation precedes me," she remarked. "Now whom do I have the honor of speaking to?"

"We are servants of King Shroude, ruler of Chronoside. Begging your pardon, but we've actually been observing you for quite some time. We've been meaning to talk to you."

The Piranhas growled warily, seeming to sense Maizee's suspicion. "About what?" she demanded.

"We have a proposition for you," Jaff replied. "After learning as much as we have of your intentions, King Shroude has decided to offer his hand in allegiance to you."

Maizee drew back in astonishment. "_What?_"

"We've seen you in action before. Your Piranhas are incredibly powerful," the leader of the Darkstriders went on. "And you share a common goal with us: namely, defeating Mario. Our lord believes you would prove a vital ally to his cause."

Maizee did nothing but stare at Jaff for a long moment, seemingly at a loss for words. Clearly she hadn't been expecting to be presented with an offer like this. It was impossible to say what was going through her head.

"That is a very generous offer, but I'm afraid I must decline," she finally replied. "I promise you our goals don't overlap at all."

Jaff blinked in shock, as though someone rejecting an offer from King Shroude were something completely outside his comprehension. Even Pell and Nobb seemed surprised.

"But I – "

"Listen. As you've said yourself, my goal is to obtain the Sun Souls. You, on the other hand, seem more concerned with keeping them where they are. I'm afraid I can't let that happen."

Jaff still looked stunned at this, but momentarily he got over it and snarled in frustration.

"Now – now look here! If you're not allied with Mario, just what are you planning on doing with those things anyway?"

"Quite frankly, that's none of your business. Now I believe this conversation is over."

Her Piranhas growled in agreement, daring Jaff to object. He glanced nervously up at them, and it was only then that he got a good look at them – and he realized there was something _wrong _about them. They were far too large to be normal Piranhas, their toothy mouths were too wide, and they just seemed far too dangerous...

He pushed this thought out of his mind before turning to glare at Maizee again.

"Fine," he spat. "We don't need to waste our time talking to you. We can defeat Mario by ourselves. Right now."

He started marching off towards the circus tent, motioning Pell and Nobb to follow him. He certainly wasn't expecting Maizee to step directly in front of him.

"And I'm afraid I can't let you do that either," she said firmly. "Mario is my business, not yours. You leave him to me."

Jaff bristled in disbelief. "Just what do you think you're doing?" he almost screamed. "_We're _the ones to defeat Mario! He's threatening _our _grand designs, not yours! You're just some lunatic loner who, for reasons beyond all understanding, decided to stick her nose in our business!"

Maizee didn't budge. "I wouldn't say such things if I were you," she said in a dangerously quiet voice. "Now consider this a warning."

She turned to the Piranha on the right and nodded. Responding to the signal, it suddenly shot forward and crunched down onto Pell.

"YEEEAARRGHH!" the Darkstrider screeched as the Piranha took a ferocious chomp out of him. Jaff and Nobb stared in shock as he staggered backwards, panting and clutching painfully at himself as his blue face became tinged with green.

"What did you _do?_" Jaff snarled at Maizee.

"What does it _look _like? I poisoned him," she replied acidly. "Don't worry, I'm sure they sell Tasty Tonics somewhere in town. I'd hurry if I were you, though."

And with that, she leapt onto the head of the center Piranha as all three of them burrowed into the ground and vanished, leaving the Darkstriders by themselves.

"What the – " Nobb blinked several times. "Where the heck did she go?"

"Oh, forget it," Jaff hissed at him, grabbing Pell roughly and dragging him away. "Let's get out of here. Clearly she can't be negotiated with. She's completely insane."

Nobb looked confused. "We're goin'? But what about Mario?"

"Well we can't exactly fight him like _this_, now can we?" Jaff roared furiously, smacking the gravely weakened Pell. "We have _her _to thank for that. Now let's go… and woe be unto anyone who gets on _her _bad side. Mario most of all."

––

_**Starshine Circus**_

**_1:30 pm_**

After the events of that night, Mario's team had very awkwardly and reluctantly trudged off to bed. Mario himself got hardly any sleep at all, spending most of the night trying to sort out his feelings. Once the others had gotten a full night's rest, the group immediately returned to Dayside, whereupon Mario marched up to Benny and Imogen's trailer and pounded on the door.

"What in the – where _were _all of you?" Imogen demanded, yanking the door open. "You think it's funny to just all go missing like that? Like Diavelli's not in enough of a snit already – "

"The jig's up, Imogen," Mario cut her off sternly. "We know about Dulia."

Imogen went eerily silent.

"You _what?_" Benny cried, zooming up to themand looking panicked. "But – but how? Nobody's allowed to know about her! Who told you?"

"Oh, please, Benny. Of course no one told them," Imogen said impatiently. "You probably just left your diary lying out in the open again."

"It's a _journal_, not a diary!" the Boo snapped at her before rounding on Mario. "Look, I don't know how you guys found out about her, but I _swear – _if you get any funny ideas, if you do _anything _to try and take advantage of her, I'll... well, I'll..."

Despite being unable to complete his threat, Benny looked completely furious. Mario was stunned; he'd never seen the normally shy Boo this defensive before –

And then it dawned on him.

"Wait a minute – so that's why you've been all depressed, Benny," he realized. "You're in love with her!"

"Oh, just leave me alone, would you?" Benny cried, looking anguished. "I know it's stupid. I know she's completely out of my league... but that hardly matters now, does it? She's gone. Somebody took her away, just like Diavelli was afraid of."

He started sobbing quietly, blinking back tears. Imogen let out a sigh and, in a rare show of affection, put an arm around him. Mario turned and looked dejectedly back at his party, wondering what he was supposed to say.

He couldn't tell them the truth, after all. Dulia hadn't been kidnapped at all – but they'd never understand what really happened.

"Why didn't you guys ever tell us about her?" he finally asked tiredly.

"We were _trying _to protect her. That's what friends do," Imogen snapped at him, as though the concept of friendship were something alien to him. "Nobody outside this circus knows anything about her. If word ever got out that Diavelli's animal act was all fake... well, it'd be a disaster."

"What, so you think it's better for her to be shut away from the world and never get to talk to anybody?" Hanner said angrily.

"You think _we're _happy about that?" Benny shot back. "That was all Diavelli's fault. He was so paranoid that someone would steal her that he kept her locked up in her trailer whenever she wasn't performing. Even Gen and I barely got to see her... and now, who knows if we'll ever see her at all."

Hanner seemed to understand that, looking guilty that she'd blamed them. "I can't believe that Diavelli is such a jerk," she muttered. "He's making it so hard on everybody. Being part of a circus is supposed to be _fun_... I mean, just as long as it's not one of those evil, demented circuses."

Imogen nodded. "That poor kid..." she sighed, gazing off at something. "She deserves to live life as a normal person, not as some attraction in a freak show. Who knows what's happening to her now."

Mario had started tuning Imogen out. Something Benny had said was causing a plan to slowly formulate in his mind.

"You said he kept her locked up in her trailer?" he repeated. "Which one?"

Both performers gave him an odd look. "The one nearest the tent, of course. You never noticed it was empty?" Benny replied.

"And don't get any perverse ideas," Imogen said sharply. "It's locked up tight. You can't get in."

"I was just wondering," Mario assured her. "Well... thanks, you guys. Sorry I brought this up."

"Yeah, well... don't do it again. The less you talk about her, the better off you'll be," Imogen replied. Benny floated out of the way as she slammed the door shut, leaving Mario's party out in the cold.

Now that they were alone, Mario turned to face his partners with a glimmer in his eye.

"All right, what dumb fool idea are you plannin' this time?" Goomblaine growled, clearly growing sick of all this.

"You heard them, guys," said the plumber. "Dulia's always in her trailer. We just have to find go back to Nightside and talk to her there, and get her to find out who she really is."

"Yeah, just one problem there, hotshot," Hanner reminded him. "She's _locked up _in her trailer, remember? How are we gonna get inside?"

"Actually, I've got that figured out too. Snatchel, I hate to tell you this, but it's going to involve breaking the law."

"Well, that's what I've come to expect from you, partner."

––

Inside the tent, everyone was hard at work rehearsing just as they always were, though it was clear that their hearts weren't in it anymore. The more time that passed without finding Dulia, the angrier Diavelli became and the more everyone grew convinced that the circus really was doomed.

Diavelli was standing near the back entrance, barking orders up at the Trapeze Guys as they soared back and forth over his head. He was so caught up in his rant that he wasn't paying attention to anything else – certainly not the ring of keys that was hanging from his belt.

"Okay Snatchel, you got this?" Mario whispered as he and his party peered into the entrance. Luckily, the ringmaster was facing away from them.

"Shoot, you forget who yer talkin' to, Mario?" the sheriff replied with a grin. "This'll be a snap."

He pulled out his lasso and twirled it for a moment, concentrating hard before finally throwing it out. The noose tightened around the ring of keys and yanked them right of Diavelli's belt. The ringmaster didn't notice a thing.

"Awesome! That was terrific!" Hanner cheered as Snatchel pulled the rope back and grabbed the keys.

"Well, heck, you don't get to be sheriff by good looks alone," he chuckled.

"All right, we've got the keys," said Mario, holding them up. "One of these is bound to open Dulia's caravan, in Dayside or Nightside."

When they arrived at said caravan a moment later, though, they were greeting with a very unwelcome sight. The door had been completely removed, and sticking out of the doorway was a very large yellow block.

"What? What's this?" Mario cried.

"He must have heard us talking about her," sighed Benny, who was floating in front of the door. "He put this block in here so we couldn't get in and do anything funny."

"I'm gettin' mighty sick of that feller," Snatchel grumbled. Stubba was trying to break the block with his club but was having no luck.

"Well, just perfect," Mario complained. "We got the keys and everything... now what are we supposed to do?"

Benny's eyes lit up in amusement. "You guys got the keys from Diavelli?" he repeated. "How'd you do that?"

"We're Team Mario, that's how," Hanner boasted.

"Well, that changes things," the young Boo remarked. "Do you guys want to hear a secret?"

"DUH! I love secrets!" the Hammer Sis cheered.

"Well, Diavelli's got a lot of old junk that he's collected over the years. He keeps it all stored in this big warehouse at the other end of town. One of those keys should open the place up."

"You want us to go digging through Diavelli's stuff?" Mario interpreted.

"I've seen some of it... it's really useful," Benny informed him. "In fact, he's got something in there that could help you break down that block."

"...And you're okay with us breaking in here?"

"I know you guys aren't bad," said the Boo. "You're trying to help Dulia, aren't you?"

They all nodded.

"Well, good luck then," he sighed. "Whatever you're planning, I hope it works... for her sake."

There was no mistaking the longing look in his eyes... the look of fear and concern for someone he loved.

––

**_Nova City_**

**_1:59 pm_**

Mario's team made their way across the city until they arrived at the old warehouse Benny had mentioned. Mario attempted to fit each one of the keys into the lock, and sure enough, one of them fit perfectly and caused the door to swing wide open.

The inside of the warehouse was enormous. Practically everything was in shades of gray; the walls and the floor were all made of concrete, and everything inside was coated with a heavy layer of dust that must have taken years to form. The only light came from a row of very small, narrow windows that lined the walls near the ceiling.

"Ugh... when was the last time somebody cleaned in here?" Hanner complained.

"Well, hopefully we won't be down here long," Mario replied as they carefully entered the room, getting a look at how huge the place really was. You could practically hold a concert in here. There were all sorts of discarded boxes piled up and lining the walls, so many that it would take a lifetime to sort through them all.

"Well, what a load of help that ghost freak was," Goomblaine complained. "Where are we supposed to find this 'really helpful thing'?"

"EEEEEEEEEK!" Stubba suddenly shrieked. Everyone whipped around to see that a Pider had dropped to the floor in front of the little Clubba.

"Geez, Stubba, don't scare us like that," Mario admonished as they made quick work of the arachnid. "There's nothing dangerous in here, all right? Don't worry."

"Okay, Mario," Stubba whimpered.

They slowly made their way through the massive room, but not without enemy encounters. Hanner and Stubba quickly grew disgusted at the number of Piders that appeared, as well as the Dark Puffs that seemed to thrive in the dust-filled environment. They weren't difficult to defeat, but they did manage to slow the party down a lot.

Thankfully, their excursion definitely had its benefits. About halfway through the room Mario noticed a small chest sitting in front of the stack of crates, and he kicked it open to find...

"AWESOME! A Franklin Badge!"

"Actually, Hanner, it's called Zap Tap."

"Oh, right."

That wasn't all they found. Mario noticed a familiar glimmer of sparkles a little further on, and within moments he had yet another Luma in his care. Snatchel even used his knack for finding items to pull a (formerly) invisible P-Down, D-Up Badge off a shelf.

"We're getting quite the haul, aren't we?" Mario remarked.

"Nothing _helpful_, though," Goomblaine reminded him irritably.

"Ooh, Mario! Look at that!" Stubba said right on cue, pointing off at a very large, important-looking chest sitting all by itself.

"Hmm... I'll bet you anything this is what Benny was talking about," said the plumber. Feeling excited, he walked up to the oversized chest and slowly pushed it open...

_Mario got the Super Hammer! He can use this hammer to break large yellow blocks in his way! He can also use the Super Hammer in battle to damage all enemies in a row!_

"Hah! It's about time!" Mario cheered, holding his new hammer aloft in all its glory. "This'll make fighting ten times easier!"

"Hey, yeah... and Benny was right! We can use this to break into Dulia's place!" Hanner realized, looking delighted. "Boy, we wouldn't have gotten anywhere without Ben n' Gen, would we?"

Mario smiled sadly. "Yeah... I just hope Diavelli doesn't find out they've been helping us. The last thing I want is for them to get in trouble because of us."

––

**_Starshine Circus_**

**_1:30 pm_**

They quickly made their way back to the circus grounds and approached Dulia's caravan, Mario holding his new Super Hammer in his hands.

"All right, so here's the plan," he announced. "There's no way we could break in here in Nightside without Diavelli catching us, because Dulia's actually there for him to keep an eye on. So we'll break in here, then when we're inside, we'll go to Nightside. Sound good?"

"Whatever," Goomblaine muttered as everyone else nodded dutifully.

"Okay then," said Mario. He braced himself and wound up, feeling his papery body twist up in a coil as he built up every reserve of strength...

And he swung the hammer with all his might, smashing the block to bits.

"YAY! We did it!" Stubba cheered, jumping up and down.

"Yeah, now let's hurry before Diavelli catches us," Hanner said fretfully, running inside as everyone else followed her.

They were all taken aback by how lavishly the inside was decorated. There was a closet full of colorful outfits, a nice fancy rug, and an enormous mirror that was lined with lightbulbs. The counter in front of the mirror had all sorts of bottles and cases on it, along with a hat rack with a purple wig hanging from it.

It looked like a movie star's dressing room... but Mario knew that for Dulia, it may as well have been a prison cell.

"Hey, Mario, look," said Hanner, pointing at the center of the room. There was yet another group of sparkles hanging in the air.

"Good eye, Hanner. We'll have some serious levelling up to do when this is over," said Mario as he retrieved the Luma. "Okay, everybody ready? Here goes nothing."

"Y'know, I just had a thought," said Snatchel as Mario tipped the Aeon Hourglass over. "Isn't she gonna be a little freaked when we appear right in her dressin' room outta thin air?"

Mario blinked. "Wha – "

They were already gone.

––

_**Starshine Circus**_

**_1:30 am_**

Diavelli sat at his desk, folding his hands as he impatiently regarded the three strange creatures who were standing in his office.

"You're completely sure about this?" he asked.

"Beyond any doubt," Jaff replied. "That Duplighost of yours is even more valuable than you realize... and we know for a fact that those new 'performers' are nothing but liars and deceivers. They're planning to take her away from you."

Diavelli frowned very dangerously. "What am I supposed to do? There's five of them!"

"When we gave you that Sun Soul, it was because we knew you were someone we could trust," said Jaff. "In other words, you were too selfish to let anyone else get it. And we believed you would make good use of its power. Those unbreakable life contracts of yours are just the start... you really don't know what you're capable of, do you?"

"Tell me what to do!"

"You can control those performers of yours more closely than you realize," the Darkstrider informed him in a low voice. "And I know just the ones who deserve it. I think it's time you had a word with your juggler and your fire-eater..."

––

Mario's party reappeared in Dulia's room... only to find the Duplighost herself was now sitting in front of her mirror. She instantly saw their reflections appear behind her out of nowhere and gasped.

"We really need to start thinking things through better," Hanner sighed.

"What the – " Dulia spun around to face them, staring at them with terror in her eyes –

_Those red, sinister eyes, the calculating glint that had flashed through them as he raised up his arms and vanished in a puff of smoke, reemerging as a shadow of Mario's own self –_

Mario quickly shook his head to clear it.

"You – " Dulia cried breathlessly. "You're... you're the new performers, aren't you? From the show last night?" She drew back, still looking frightened. "You shouldn't be in here... Diavelli will be so upset..."

"Well, then, we just won't tell him," Mario replied as he climbed to his feet, trying to sound reassuring. "He doesn't ever have to know we were here."

Dulia looked back and forth between the members of this strange group, unsure what to say.

"Why... why are you in here?" she finally asked. "What do you want?"

"We wanted to talk to you, Dulia," Hanner replied in a very friendly and encouraging voice. "You're such an amazing performer, we wanted to meet you."

Mario nodded. "My name's Mario," he introduced himself, "and these are all my friends. It's all right if we stay and talk to you, right? Just for a little while?"

The Duplighost looked at them warily before deciding. She knew better, much better, than to let them stay, but her loneliness got the better of her.

"Okay... just for a little..."

Mario pulled up a chair and sat down across from her. She regarded him tensely, which certainly wasn't making _him _feel any more at ease...

"So, Dulia," he began conversationally, "how long have you been part of this circus?"

She frowned. "Oh... a long time. Years, actually," she replied. "I'm the newest one, though. Or I was, until you came along."

"And you've always had the same act?"

"Yes..."

"So... do you like it here?"

Dulia blinked in surprise. "W-What?"

"Do you like being in this show?" he asked simply. "Do you have a good time with your animal act? Do you have a lot of friends? Do you want to keep doing this for a long time?"

Dulia stared at him. For some reason, hearing these questions was making her start shaking all over.

"Oh... of course I do..." she said in a wavering voice, turning to stare at the floor. "Of course I like it here... this is my home..."

"Really?" said Mario, knowing full well she was lying. "Because it seems to me like Diavelli doesn't treat you very well. He doesn't seem to appreciate you at all, in fact." He leaned forward slightly. "Maybe it's just me, but... if I were you, I wouldn't be very happy here."

Dulia didn't turn to look back up at him. She kept gazing at the ground, though she was clearly in distress, and her lower lip was trembling...

And then she burst into tears.

"Oh... y-y-you're _right_," she sobbed. "I-I can't stand it here... I hate Diavelli... I hate him..." She hiccupped. "I know that sounds mean, but... he never lets me do anything... I never even get to see my best friends... I don't understand."

Hanner was frowning deeply in sympathy and wringing her hands, and it looked like it was all Stubba could do to not run up and give her a hug.

"I'm so sorry, Dulia," Mario sighed. "Nobody deserves to be treated like that. But I have to ask... if you had a chance to leave here, would you do it?"

Now she did look up at him.

"...What?"

"Y'see, we weren't planning on staying here long. In fact, we have to leave pretty soon... and we were hoping you'd come with us."

Dulia's eyes briefly lit up with something that looked like hope, but momentarily they dimmed again.

"Oh, but... I can't," she whispered. "I can't ever leave... Diavelli..."

"Just forget about him for a minute. He can't make you stay if you don't want to. And you don't want to, do you?"

She sniffled and shook her head. "But... why me? Why do you want me to go with you? And where are you going?"

"Well, you might not believe this..." Mario briefly fidgeted before continuing. "Dulia, do you remember how it didn't use to be dark out all the time? You remember how the sun used to come up for half of every day?"

For the longest moment, Dulia just stared at him, looking too shocked to respond, and then she started nodding furiously.

"Yes! I do, I do!" she cried. "I can't believe somebody else does! I asked everybody about it... Benny and Gen... even Diavelli! But he just yelled at me and told me to stop making up nonsense." She looked embarrassed. "Do... do you know what happened to the sun?"

"Yes, I do," Mario assured her. "You know about the Twelve Guardians, right?" She nodded, and he went on. "Well, this may sound impossible, but it's true. The reason the sun doesn't come up anymore is because the six Guardians of Day were all killed."

Dulia looked stunned. She glanced at the partners, looking for confirmation of this, and they all nodded.

"Are... are you sure?"

"I saw it myself," said Mario. "But we think we have a way to fix it. See, there are six people who are going to be the new Guardians now. And once we've found all of them, we think everything will go back to normal."

Dulia sat in silence for a moment, taking all this in. Did she really believe everything this strange person was saying? She'd only just met him, but she felt like she trusted him a lot more than Diavelli...

"Why are you telling me all this?" she finally asked.

Mario took a deep breath. This was it.

"Well, Dulia," he began, "we kind of think you're – "

He never got to finish.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?"

Everyone spun around in horror to find Diavelli standing in the room.

Dulia screamed in fright. "Mr. Diavelli! I – "

"So it's _true!_" the ringmaster bellowed at Mario. "You've been lying to me all along! You're not performers! All you ever wanted was to take her from me when she's rightfully _mine!_"

"Just shut up, would you?" Mario snapped, frustrated that Diavelli's paranoid claim happened to be the exact truth.

"And you! You deceptive little _witch!_" Diavelli snarled at Dulia. She shrieked as he grabbed her by her clown collar, dragged her to the door and hurled her onto the ground outside.

"I've put up with you for long enough now! Consorting with these liars – how _could _you? Have you no loyalty to me?"

He was about to grab her again when Hanner, Stubba and Snatchel leapt protectively in front of her.

"You ain't gettin' yer filthy hands on her!" the sheriff declared.

"We'll see about that!" Diavelli snapped back. He'd expected them to gang up on him like this – but now he was prepared for it.

He threw his head back. "IMOGEN!"

Everyone jumped back in shock as a pool of shadow suddenly formed in the ground, and the Shadow Siren rose up out of it. Almost instantly, Mario realized there was something wrong with her. She had a blank look on her face, devoid of any emotion, and she showed no sign of familiarity as she gazed down at Dulia.

"G-Gen? What's wrong with you?" Dulia cried, backing away in fear.

Mario quickly found out the answer. He could barely make out Imogen's eyes from under her bangs – and they were glowing red.

"He's mind controlling her!" the plumber gasped.

"He never mentioned he could do _that_..." Hanner said nervously.

"It was a little tip from some friends!" Diavelli cackled. "You should know that when I say you belong to me forever, I'm telling the truth! Now Imogen, grab her!"

"NO! HELP – " Dulia shrieked, but she was cut off as Imogen grabbed onto her and pulled them both down into the shadows. Diavelli continued laughing evilly as he took off in a mad dash toward the circus tent.

"Don't let him get away!" Mario ordered as he and his partners took off after him.

_I don't understand! How can he mind control people? He's just a regular person, he shouldn't have any powers –_

_Unless –_

Diavelli vanished into the tent with Mario's team immediately following him in. To their surprise, the lights were all on, as though the tent were expecting a show to start at any moment.

Imogen rose up out of the floor in the center ring and dumped Dulia on the ground before vanishing again. The Duplighost whimpered in fear, powerless to run or fight back as Diavelli slowly advanced on her.

"It's time you finally started being useful, Dulia," he said calmly. "And I think I know just how."

"NO! DON'T HURT HER!" Stubba cried desperately, but they were all too late. Diavelli glared directly at her as his eyes suddenly flashed bright red – and then, so did Dulia's.

All emotion left her face as she gazed blankly into the air.

"Dulia..." Mario whispered.

"Now, Dulia," said Diavelli, stepping back and pointing at Mario's team. "Eliminate these fools once and for all."

"Yes, sir..."

Dulia closed her glowing red eyes and raised up her arms. Mario's party gawked in horror as she became enveloped in a cloud of purple smoke, obscuring her from view. She was transforming...

Mario was about to have a heart attack. He felt like he was reliving the nightmare all over again.

_Please, don't let her turn into me – not again – I can't handle it –_

But he was wrong. Dulia wasn't changing into him... though it may have been better if she had.

From within the cloud of smoke, they saw her changing, growing bigger and bigger, more and more powerful, until there was no trace of her old self left...

The smoke dissipated... and Mario's team was staring up at the most enormous Dino Rhino they'd ever seen. Its skin was the color of a boulder, its fangs were huge and razor sharp, its feet were tipped with claws that looked capable of tearing the floor apart – and its eyes were still glowing red. It took one look at the group and let out a deafening, blood-curdling roar.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Allow me to present the rarest and most _dangerous _animal in my show! You'll never believe the trouble I had to go through to capture it," Diavelli cackled sinisterly. "The Dynamo Dino!"

And with that, he raced out of the tent as fast as he could, leaving Mario's group to their fate.

"Hanner... I'm starting to think this _is _one of those evil, demented circuses," Mario said nervously, as the Dynamo Dino closed in...

––––

**A/N**: Longest... update... EVER. -_-

And just to clarify, this isn't the real boss fight coming up, just a miniboss.


	27. Chapter 4, Part IV

_**Starshine Circus**_

_**1:30 am**_

"Okay, you heard the guy! This is the Dynamo Dino!" Goomblaine shouted as he held up his phone. "Yeah, yeah, I know it's really that Dulia chick, but that's not gonna stop it from attacking us! It can either ram into us or stomp on us with those giant feet, so watch it!"

Mario shook his head as he backed away from their attacker. "This isn't right… we can't fight her. She's innocent…"

Goomblaine swiveled his head around to glare at the plumber. "Yeah, well I got news for ya! Beating her is the only way she's gonna snap outta that mind control trick! So deal with it!"

Before Mario could respond, the Dynamo Dino let out another deafening roar and charged at the group. All of them scrambled out of the way just in time to avoid being impaled by its horns.

"All right… we don't have a choice," Mario agreed reluctantly. As the Dino backed up and slowly turned to face them again, Mario ran directly at it and leapt into the air, throwing himself into a Power Bounce on its head. Goomblaine followed up with a Multibonk, not seeming the least bit guilty about having to attack their friend.

"Guys, watch out!" Hanner shouted as the Dino let out a furious snort, shaking its head violently and throwing Mario and Goomblaine off. They landed on the ground in a sprawled heap, and the Dino took the opportunity to stomp down on Mario with all its might.

Thanks to Mario's new Zap Tap badge, the Dino suddenly yelped in pain, jerking its foot back as it was blasted with a jolt of electricity. It didn't make Mario hurt any less, though.

"Oh no! Mario!" cried Stubba. The Dino backed away to leave Mario curled up on the floor, gasping in agony. The Clubba immediately ran up to him and dutifully shoved a Super Shroom into the plumber's hands.

"Thanks, Stubba," Mario groaned as he quickly chomped it down. The Dynamo Dino was clearly not amused at this, as it trumpeted out another bellow before charging right at Stubba.

The little Clubba frowned fearlessly at it. "You'd better not hurt Mario anymore!" he shouted as he ran up to it, causing it to stop in surprise, and unleashed his Club attack on its foot. But much to his dismay, his attack had no effect at all; the Dino's defense was too high.

"Oh no – get out of there, Stubba!" Mario shouted, but he was too late, as the Dino growled furiously at Stubba and brought its foot down on him, intending to crush him. Stubba thought quickly and used Spike Guard, hoisting his club up above his head and causing the Dino to stomp directly onto the spikes. It howled in pain as it staggered backwards, limping on its uninjured foot.

"Can I get a word in edgewise?" Hanner jeered before using her Hammer Throw, hitting the Dynamo Dino right between the eyes. Mario decided to whip out his new hammer as well, and wound up as tightly as he could before swinging and striking it in the leg.

But for all its injuries, the Dynamo Dino didn't appear to be slowing down at all. In fact, it was just getting annoyed. It growled dangerously at them, not ready to give up the fight.

Mario felt his spirits drop. "This doesn't look good," he muttered. "I think we might be outmatched…"

It snorted again, blowing hot air from its nostrils, and came charging at them once again. It was frighteningly fast for something its size, but everyone managed to evade it. Then Snatchel came running up and tried to tackle it, but it just smacked him with its massive head and sent him tumbling across the floor.

"Oh no!" Mario gasped, running up to his injured partner. "You all right, Snatchel?"

The sheriff grimaced as he sat up. "Sorry I ain't bein' much help, Mario," he sighed. "But I don't reckon there's a cowboy on earth could rope a critter like that. It's just too big."

"You got that right…" Mario agreed hopelessly… and then his eyes widened. He looked thrilled.

"Snatchel, that's it! You're a genius!"

"Huh? Since when?"

Not even stopping to explain, Mario grabbed him by the hand and shouted "Miracle Grow!"

The instant he did, the entire space inside the circus tent seemed to warp and twist. Mario gasped, quickly growing dizzy and trying to steady himself – and then he realized he was very quickly increasing in size, along with all four of his partners.

When everything went back to normal, the entire party was now the same size as the Dynamo Dino. Mario's head nearly brushed the ceiling of the tent, and the rows of seats around them now looked doll-sized. Their opponent gawked in terror as it stared at them.

"What the _heck _is this?" Goomblaine demanded, looking down at his giant self.

"WOAH! THIS IS SO COOL!" Stubba cheered ecstatically, completely forgetting he was in the middle of a fight.

"You got that right! Now let's take this fight to that freakazoid!" Hanner said with a grin. "Oh, I mean – sorry, Dulia!"

Quickly shaking off its initial shock, the Dynamo Dino growled angrily before rushing them again. But Mario was more than prepared this time. Before it could reach them, he smashed down on its head with his hammer of justice and sent it sprawling to the floor.

"Oops… guess I don't know my own strength," he said guiltily.

Momentarily Stubba stopped running around in circles and remembered what he was here for. He turned to glare at the Dino and bashed its head repeatedly with his club before it could advance on Mario. This time, the attack did plenty of damage, but he wasn't prepared for the Dino to headbutt him in retaliation. He flew back several feet and collapsed to the ground, gasping as the wind was knocked out of him.

"Okay, that's enough! We're ending this!" Hanner snapped, throwing out her hammer and striking the Dino to much greater effect than before. The Dino bellowed in pain, which Goomblaine ignored as he threw in a devastating Multibonk, and then Snatchel rammed into it with such force that he actually flipped it over onto its stomach.

"Careful, you guys!" Mario warned his partners, feeling more and more guilty the more they attacked their opponent.

Now the Dino had righted itself again, but it was panting in exhaustion. It swayed uneasily on its feet as it struggled to stay in the fight, but it had no strength left. Yet still its eyes glowed madly, burning with the mindless determination to take Mario and the others down.

Mario's stomach twisted up in a horrible knot as he saw it. He had a series of painful flashbacks as he remembered his last battle against a Duplighost, and how he'd had to take his friends down in the process. It was happening all over again – except that this Duplighost _was _his friend.

"We have to finish it, Mario," Hanner reminded him when he didn't make a move. "She won't go back to normal if we don't."

"I know," Mario almost whispered. Any sick pleasure he might have gotten out of the fight quickly vanished as he gazed at the helpless Dino. It growled at him with pure blind fury in its eyes, desperate to defeat him. Even now it had no memory of the kind and peaceful girl it really was.

Why had he been afraid of her before?

"I'm sorry," he said quietly as he slowly stepped up… and brought his hammer down on its skull.

It gasped as the red lights left its eyes, and it fell over on its side with an earth-shaking crash.

It was that very moment that the Miracle Grow decided to wear off. Mario yelped in surprise as he felt himself shrinking back down to his real size, the circus tent growing larger and larger around him. Finally the shrinking stopped, and he looked around and saw that he and his partners were back to normal.

"Urgh… what a wacky trip that was," Snatchel groaned, looking like he was still reeling from vertigo.

"Uh oh… we really trashed the place, didn't we?" Mario said in embarrassment, looking around the arena and realizing how much their colossal battle had torn up the floor. "Diavelli's not gonna be happy about this."

He was quickly snapped out of his thoughts as he noticed the unconscious Dynamo Dino suddenly vanish in a puff of purple smoke, to be replaced by Dulia lying on the ground.

"Oh no – " Hanner gasped. "Is she all right?"

She quickly got her answer as Dulia let out a low groan and sat up, looking weakened and dizzy. Mario exhaled in relief as he saw her eyes weren't glowing anymore.

"Ohh… what happened?" she asked weakly, holding her head. "Mario? Where are we? What did – "

And then she seemed to remember. "Oh no…" she whispered. "I… I attacked you, didn't I?" She looked horrified. "Oh no! Mario, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it, I swear! Oh, please don't be mad at me! Mr. Diavelli, he did something – I would never – "

"Oh, just shut up, would you?" Goomblaine spat at her, causing her to jump. "Geez! Anybody can see it wasn't your fault!"

Mario glared at him, but Dulia looked surprised.

"R-really? You mean it?"

"Of course we mean it, Dulia," Mario assured her. "We could never blame you for all that. We're just so glad you're okay."

"Yeah! Don't worry, Dulia!" said Stubba, walking over and patting her on the back. "We're not angry."

Dulia managed a weak smile. "Oh… thank you guys…" she said. "But… where's Mr. Diavelli? Did he get away?"

"Oh, he skedaddled outta here like the dang coward he is," Snatchel growled at the memory of the corrupt ringmaster. "Oh, and… that's kinda the bad news. We kinda think he's been mind-controllin' your friends too."

"What? He's got Benny and Gen?" Dulia cried, jumping to her feet. "And everybody else too? I gotta go save them! I won't let them get hurt because of me!"

"Woah. Calm down, Dulia," said Mario, surprised by her sudden burst of energy. "Don't worry, we're going to go save them right now. And then we're bringing that Diavelli creep down once and for all."

Dulia stared at him in gratitude. "Really? You're going to save them? You'll help me?"

"Well, of course we are! What are friends for?" Hanner laughed. "Besides, I've been wanting to beat up that jerk practically since I first met him!"

The little Duplighost looked back and forth between them, almost overcome with incredulous joy. Hardly anyone had ever been this nice to her, besides her two best friends. Even after all the troubled she'd caused, they weren't angry – and they seemed to think they could finally defeat Diavelli for good. Somehow, she had no doubt that they were right.

"Oh… thank you, everyone!" she burst out, scampering dutifully over to Mario's side. "I'll make it up to all of you, I promise! I'll be a good friend."

"I know you will," Mario said with a wink. "Now let's go!"

_**Dulia Joined Mario's Party!**_

_Dulia is a shy but talented Duplighost whose powers of imitation are unmatched. She can turn Mario into an exact copy of anyone standing nearby. While Mario's in disguise, enemies won't attack him, and some may even talk to him. Mario can use his disguises to gain access to places he wouldn't normally be allowed. In battle, Dulia can dive-bomb an enemy with her Head Missile, or use Transform to turn into a copy of the enemy and use all its attacks as her own._

––

As soon as Mario's party left the tent, they were disappointed to find that Diavelli was nowhere to be seen – and neither, for that matter, were any of the performers. The circus grounds were deserted and eerily quiet.

"Great… where'd everybody go?" Mario wondered.

"He kidnapped everybody…" Hanner realized with a shudder. "He got away while we were distracted with that big fight."

Mario sighed. "Well, he can't have gone too far. He's probably still in the city." He snapped his fingers. "He must be hiding out in the warehouse! That's where all his stuff is!"

"Well, what're we waitin' for? I've got a right mind to stick that feller in the stocks!" Snatchel said eagerly.

And so the group set off across the city once again, this time preparing themselves for a final confrontation.

_**Nova City**_

_**1:34 am**_

Unlike Soluna Town, Nova City was much louder and more colorful at night. Neon lights were flashing everywhere, music was drifting out of several buildings, and the streets were bustling with people.

Mario shook his head sadly. These people had no idea of the evil that was lurking in their city right now.

"Oh no – " Dulia gasped. "Look!"

Mario looked up the street where she was staring, and he noticed a group of very familiar Shy Guys marching back and forth. In the darkness, it was clear to see their eyes were all glowing.

"It's Scamp!" Dulia cried. "Diavelli did something to him too!"

"Great… they're on _patrol _for us," Goomblaine said impatiently. "How are supposed to get past all those guys?"

Mario smirked. "Guys, are you forgetting we have a _Duplighost?_" he reminded them. "Dulia, do you think maybe you can disguise all of us so we can sneak past them?"

"Oh… well… I can sure try," she agreed. "I don't usually transform other people, though."

"Don't worry. I'm sure you can do it."

"Yeah, either that or we all get caught," Goomblaine sniffed. "And if that happens, we know who to blame."

Dulia glanced around for a brief moment and then seemed to find what she was looking for: a very nondescript Goomba dozing on the sidewalk with a newspaper over his face.

"Okay, guys, here goes nothing," she said, walking up to him. After getting a good look at him, she took a deep breath. "You ready, Mario?"

"Sure thing."

Dulia frowned in deep concentration and put her hand on Mario's shoulder. All of a sudden, Mario felt a horrible chill run over his body. He seized up, going completely numb as he was enveloped in a cloud of smoke.

His heart was hammering like crazy. Something was happening to his body, and he couldn't even feel it…

Then the smoke went away, and Mario slowly and timidly looked down at himself… and was shocked to find he had turned into a Goomba.

"So? Did I do good?" Dulia asked nervously.

After staring at himself in shock for a moment (very aware of his other partners gaping at him as well), Mario looked up at her and grinned.

"You did perfect! This is a terrific disguise!"

Dulia sighed in relief. "I'm glad you like it. Now I have to disguise everybody else too."

"Is it gonna hurt?" Stubba asked timidly.

"Of course not. Well, I don't think so anyway, but I do it all the time."

Within moments, Dulia had transformed the entire party into generic Goombas – even Goomblaine, whose appearance they figured was bound to be recognizable. Hoping and praying for the best, the six of them slowly walked up the street, approaching the area where the Trapeze Guys were on patrol. They were hoping to go by unseen, but it was no use.

"Hey! Who are you?" Scamp demanded the instant they walked by.

Mario skidded to a stop, nearly toppling over in the process. It was incredibly awkward to not have any arms to steady himself with; he wondered how the Goombas all did it.

"Uh… we're… just some regular old Goombas," Mario assured him, trying to disguise his voice. "Nothing suspicious about us, that's for sure. What's the matter?"

Scamp just glared at him for a moment, and Mario began to fear he would see straight through the disguise. Thankfully, being mind controlled seemed to make him pretty single-minded and unsuspicious about things.

"We're on the lookout for some fat plumber in overalls, and his group a' friends," the Trapeze Guy finally spoke in a largely toneless voice. "We got orders to stop them if they come over here. You see anybody like that, you tell us."

"Oh… sure thing. Will do."

Scamp turned around without another word of acknowledgement and continued to pace back and forth. Mario released the breath he'd been holding and waddled off as fast as he could, with the others following after him. Once they were a safe distance away, Dulia dispelled the disguises and turned everyone back to normal.

"Phew… I missed you, arms!" Hanner exulted, hugging herself.

Dulia, on the other hand, was looking very somber. "I don't get it," she lamented. "How could Mr. Diavelli do all this? I didn't even know he could hypnotize people…"

"I don't think he did either," Mario sighed, walking up to her. "But I think I know how. Dulia… you know how we were talking about the Guardians before?"

Dulia looked at him and nodded.

"Well, here's the thing… the Guardians won't have any power unless we find these things called Sun Souls. We found out that one of them was somewhere in the circus… in fact, that's the only reason we came here in the first place." He swallowed. "And now I think Diavelli has it."

Dulia stared at him. "You think that Sun Soul thing is letting him do all this?"

"I'd bet my life on it. I've practically made a career out of hunting down ancient mysterious relics like this… they can give people some pretty crazy powers."

The young Duplighost let out a shudder. "That's awful," she said. "We have to get it back from him before he hurts everybody even worse!"

"Yeah, that's the game plan."

Suddenly, Dulia started blinking as she seemed to realize something else. "Mario… do think that when we beat Mr. Diavelli… everyone will be able to go free?"

"Well, of course," Mario said with a smile. "The only reason he has any power is because of that Sun Soul. Without it, he's just a jerk with a mustache."

Dulia looked thrilled. "Oh, really?" she cried. "So we never have to be in that horrible show again? And Benny and Gen and I… we can all go live somewhere together, just like normal people? That's always been my dream!"

The smile immediately fell from Mario's face. "Oh, well… I…"

Dulia was looking expectantly at him, but he couldn't reply. Was she going to be heartbroken when she found out she couldn't stay here? What if she never got to see Benny and Imogen again – the only ones who had made her tortuous life worthwhile?

"Hey, if you guys are done yappin' yet, can we get _going?_" came Goomblaine's voice. Mario turned and saw that the other partners were taking off ahead of them.

"Come on, we'd better go," he said softly, taking Dulia by the hand and pulling her along.

––

_**Nova City **_

**_1:59 am_**

After traipsing through the rest of the city, getting more and more nervous the closer they got, Mario's team finally arrived at the old warehouse. Hiding in the shadows a safe distance away, they could see Ninjinsky standing guard in front of the door, making sure no one got past.

"He's definitely in there," Hanner said quietly. "I'm getting a wicked vibe from that place."

"I know what you mean," Mario agreed. From inside the warehouse he could feel some incredible power emanating, and it made his hair stand on end. It was the Sun Soul, but the feeling of it was warped and tainted. Diavelli was using that thing for his own devices, and if they didn't stop him soon…

Dulia was obviously feeling it as well, and she was suffering the most of all. She trembled and stepped back, feeling some inexplicable sorrow and dread that was almost physical.

"Mario… I…"

"Dulia?" Mario asked in concern, then felt a chill as he remembered that was _her _Sun Soul that Diavelli was abusing.

"I don't know if I can do this," she whimpered. "I can't fight Diavelli. I'm not strong enough."

"Dulia, don't say that. Of course you are." Mario put an arm on her shoulder to try and calm her down. "Diavelli's nothing, remember?"

"But he's still my boss. _Our _boss. He rules all of us." She shivered. "He made all of you guys sign life contracts, didn't he?"

"Yeah…"

"He did something to them," she said bluntly. "That must've been the Sun Soul too, but… those contracts have got some kind of power. He _owns _us. He can do whatever he wants with us… there's no way we can fight him."

From the terrified look on her face, Mario could tell Dulia was probably right. His heart sank. What if Diavelli really _did _own them? What if it was literally impossible to attack him? Should they even go inside that warehouse, or were they just walking right to their doom?

"Wait a minute," Hanner suddenly spoke up. She had a very thoughtful look on her face. "I think I might have an idea. I just hope Diavelli hasn't thought of this."

Mario looked at her. "What idea?"

"He made us all sign _life contracts_, right? Those exact words?"

"Yeah…"

Hanner explained her plan with an excited smile on her face. When she was done, Dulia looked absolutely astonished while Mario had on an enormous grin.

"Hanner, you really are a bit of a mad genius," he said.

"But, Mario, how are we gonna get past that guy?" asked Stubba, pointing over at Ninjinsky. "We can't sneak past him."

"Oh, yeah. Well, I think I have a plan for that too. But we're going to have to do something awful and unforgivable. Something I never hoped this adventure would come to."

"What?" Dulia asked in concern.

"Backtracking."

––

Several minutes later, the team returned to the warehouse, this time wearing the disguises of the Trapeze Guys. They'd had to walk all the way back to find them on patrol, and luckily Scamp hadn't noticed a thing.

"Halt! Who goes there!" Ninjinsky bellowed as they walked up to the door.

"Who's it look like, numbskull? It's us!" said Mario, doing the best Scamp voice he could manage. "Mr. Diavelli wants us in there."

Ninjinsky looked at them suspiciously for a moment, then finally shrugged and stood off to the side. Mario quickly opened the door and led his team inside.

"I can't believe that actually worked," Snatchel muttered.

"Ninjinsky was never the brightest guy," Dulia admitted. "But now what, Mario?"

"Now we just find Diavelli," Mario replied. "But don't change us back yet, Dulia. We can't have anyone catching us in here."

Dulia nodded, and they slowly set off through the warehouse. All the other performers were in there too, seemingly standing on guard or patrolling back and forth, but none of them payed the supposed Trapeze Guys any mind.

Stubba was starting to get scared, and he crowded very close to Mario as they walked. "What if they catch us?" he whimpered.

"They're not going to catch us, Stubba. Just so long as we don't give ourselves away, they won't – "

"HEY! What do you think you're doing?"

All six of them spun around in shock and balked at what they saw. They were staring at a very familiar friend… at least he would have been familiar, were it not for his glowing red eyes and the way he glared unforgivingly at them…

"Benny!" Dulia cried in a voice that most definitely belonged to Dulia.

Mario winced as Benny's eyes narrowed. She'd just given them away.

"YOU!" the blue Boo snarled, slamming into her and knocking her to the floor. Screaming in shock, Dulia's concentration was shattered, and all at once Mario's party was engulfed in purple smoke as they transformed back into their real selves.

"Benny, please!" Dulia begged as he glared into her eyes. "It's me, Dulia… I'm your friend! Why are you doing this?"

"You aren't allowed in here," Benny said coldly, without a trace of feeling or compassion. "Diavelli will deal with you for coming here."

"Benny, stop it…" Dulia sobbed. She could have easily fought him back if she wanted, Mario knew, but she seemed helpless. She couldn't possibly bring herself to hurt him. She could only look brokenheartedly at him and beg for him to come to his senses…

Mario remembered how Benny had felt about Dulia. Now it was painfully obvious that she felt the same way.

"BENNY!" she screamed again, but her plea fell upon deaf ears as Benny dragged her away.

"HEY! Let her go!" Mario shouted as he and the others immediately gave chase.

"Where are you taking her?" Hanner shouted, but he didn't bother to answer. She quickly found out anyway, though, as they were brought to a wide open space in the very center of the warehouse. There was an enormous stack of crates piled up, and a very familiar figure was standing on top, facing away from them.

Mario's team immediately pulled up next to Dulia. Benny had let her go and wasn't even bothering to look at her anymore. As Dulia saw Mario she instantly ran to his side, and Mario immediately grabbed her by the hand.

"So you didn't die," said the dark figure. "And now you have the gall to come here trying to stop me. It's no use. I'm far too powerful for you to contend with. The Starshine Circus will become the greatest show on earth, and I will be the supreme ringmaster of it all."

Diavelli turned around with a broad sweeping motion. He pulled his top hat off of his head and reached into it, pulling out a beautiful, light green colored Sun Soul and holding it up for all to see.

"The famous Juggling Mario Brothers… and Dulia, you spineless little traitor," he sneered. "Welcome to your painful and well-deserved demise. And I am your ringmaster, your humble guide throughout this experience. I promise you are in for a show you will never forget."

––––

**A/N: **Man, seems like it's been forever since Mario got a new party member doesn't it? :P Well, next time we'll finally wrap up Chapter 4… and I don't know when that will be, 'cause school's started again. Sorry.


	28. Chapter 4, Part V

_**Nova City**_

_**1:59 am**_

Mario glared up at the Sun Soul in Diavelli's hand. The ringmaster taunted them with a smug smirk as he held it up, daring them to try and get it. Hanner, Stubba and Snatchel could all feel their Sun Souls glowing fiercely in its proximity, and Dulia couldn't take her eyes off of it. She trembled uncontrollably as she gazed up at it. She must have been feeling some overwhelming connection to it, even if she didn't understand it…

"You don't know what that thing is capable of, Diavelli," said Mario, trying to keep his voice steady. "You should give it back before you cause any more trouble."

Diavelli just snorted in amusement. "How typical. First you steal my prize performer, now you want to steal my prize possession. And you call _me _selfish."

He stepped down from the stack of crates and joined them on the floor. As he did, he stuck the Sun Soul back in his hat and replaced it on his head.

"I guarantee you will suffer dearly for the trouble you've caused me. And as for _you_, Dulia – " His gaze fell on her, and she winced. "You know perfectly well I can't have my circus without you. After I'm through with them, you're coming back to me, even if I have to _force _you."

Fear-stricken as she was, Dulia tried to look defiant. She had to be brave, for Mario and her other new friends. If Hanner was right, then the outcome of this fight was resting entirely on her…

"That's not gonna happen," Mario said firmly. "Just answer me this, Diavelli… how'd you ever get your hands on that thing? You're not smart enough to know what it can do."

"Heh heh heh… oh, do you really need to ask that, Mario?" came a very familiar voice.

Mario and the others stepped back in surprise, eyes narrowing in recognition as three dark blue figures suddenly appeared in front of Diavelli out of puffs of smoke. Dulia, who had no idea what was going on, just stared in fright.

"Oh, no… not you three again," Mario groaned at the Darkstriders. "You guys don't know when to quit, do you?"

"What do you ugly freaks think you're doin' here?" Goomblaine snapped at them.

Jaff frowned at him, folding his arms. "Weren't you listening? It's thanks to _us _that the dear ringmaster here has that Sun Soul. We entrusted it to him ourselves."

"Of course you did," Mario sighed.

"Yeah! And he did more with it than we ever coulda hoped for," Nobb chuckled. "Pretty brilliant plan of ours, if you ask us."

"All right, you fellers quit beatin' yer gums," Snatchel growled, grabbing his lariat and stepping forward. "Instead of hidin' in the shadows like a bunch a' cowards, why don't ya just fight us?"

"Yeah! We're not scared of you!" Stubba agreed.

"Trust us, there's nothing we'd enjoy more," Jaff replied listlessly. "But we're not exactly at the top of our game right now, since we had an… unfortunate run-in with a certain rogue Dayzee."

Mario frowned. "A Dayzee…?"

Diavelli was glaring at the Darkstriders. "You liars!" he spat. "You said you'd leave them to me! I've been waiting to finish them off! Nobody tricks me and gets away with it!"

"Yes, yes, fine," Jaff spat. "Do what you want with them. Just make sure there's absolutely no chance of them surviving, or our lord will be most displeased."

Diavelli turned back to face Mario's party with a very dangerous grin. "Oh, that won't be an issue."

The look on his face was so intimidating that Mario actually took a step back. It was then that Dulia finally found her voice.

"Mr. Diavelli, you have to stop this!" she pleaded. "Can't you see you're just hurting everybody? Please, that Sun Soul doesn't belong to you… just give it back and stop all of this!"

The ringmaster gave her a look of contempt. "It's far too late to negotiate, Dulia. Now say goodbye to your friends. You're going to regret ever betraying me… you _all _are!"

Mario stared in horror as Diavelli suddenly began to glow a bright green that matched the color of the Sun Soul. The very space they were standing in seemed to darken as a horrible power started to emanate from him. He pulled out his whip and gave it a lash, sending out a crackle of bright green electricity.

Mario realized he wasn't kidding. He was ready to deal with them once and for all.

Goomblaine pulled out his phone. "Okay, do I _really_ gotta tell you who that guy is? It's Diavelli, the ringmaster of the Starshine Circus!" he shouted. "He's all souped up on that Sun Soul, so he's got some wacked-out powers to go with it! He can attack us with that green lightning or send out killer shockwaves… look, can we just beat this guy already? I'm sick and tired of him!"

"Sounds like a plan to me," Mario agreed. He ran up and prepared to unleash a Power Bounce on Diavelli, but the ringmaster cut him off. He lashed out with his whip, creating a burst of green lightning that hit Mario right in the chest and sent him flying backwards.

"Mario!" Hanner screamed.

Mario lay on the floor wincing as his body crackled with electricity. "I'm fine, Hanner… you guys have to keep fighting! Don't stop!"

Hanner nodded dutifully, running up to Diavelli and throwing her hammer at him. He growled in annoyance as it struck him in the head, throwing him off balance. He prepared to aim a bolt of lightning at her, but Snatchel ran into him while he was distracted.

"You'll pay for this!" Diavelli snarled. He lashed his whip again and hit both Hanner and Snatchel with a lightning blast. The two of them screamed in pain as they skidded across the floor and lay in a stunned heap.

Dulia could only watch in horror. "Mr. Diavelli, _stop _it! Please!"

Hanner groaned and lifted her head up. "Dulia! You have to get in there and fight! We need you!"

Dulia looked reluctant, but swallowed hard and nodded. She concentrated with all her might and floated up into the air, using her Head Missile as she angled sharply downward and rammed into Diavelli. He shrieked in fury and attacked her with a lightning blast, but she scrambled out of the way just in time.

By now Mario had gotten back to his feet and charged at the ringmaster once again, pulling out his hammer and Power Smashing him over the head. Stubba was close behind him, curling up into a ball and Hyper Bouncing him right in the stomach.

"Grr… you imbeciles!" he bellowed. He tried to blast them as well, but they quickly leapt out of the way. Then Goomblaine ran up and Multibonked him in the head, which proved to be a mistake. Diavelli grabbed his whip and struck Goomblaine with it, cutting him off mid-attack and giving him a painful jolt. The Goomba tumbled backwards, groaning in pain.

"Are you ready to surrender yet?" Diavelli sneered.

"Nuh-uh! We're not ever giving up!" Stubba shot back.

"We're not stopping until you give up that Sun Soul!" Mario agreed. He prepared to make another run at Diavelli, but the ringmaster suddenly snapped his wrist upward and created a wide arc of lightning, preventing Mario from getting close.

"Fine, then. You've pushed me this far… now prepare to suffer for it!"

Diavelli concentrated hard as the glow surrounding him intensified… and then a _huge_ sonic boom of pure energy suddenly burst out of him, tearing up the floor as it surged toward Mario's team.

Mario's eyes bulged, but he didn't have time to get out of the way before the blast hit him and his partners full force. All of them were thrown off their feet and crashed to the hard floor as Diavelli laughed like a madman.

"Ow…" Mario groaned, clutching at himself as he unsteadily tried to climb to his feet. His partners all tried to do the same, but they were looking much worse for wear.

"Heh heh… that all you got?" Snatchel asked wearily.

"Oh, not at all," Diavelli replied. "How about this?"

He snapped his whip and generated an intense lightning blast, hitting Snatchel dead on and causing him to drop to the floor. Before the others could do anything to help, Diavelli struck each of them one by one. Mario's back arched in pain as he was hit, and finally his knees gave out and he collapsed.

The only one who'd managed to evade Diavelli's attacks was Dulia.

"No! Mario!" she cried, racing over to him. "Mario, get up, _please!_"

"Just as I thought," Diavelli sighed theatrically, putting his whip away and shaking his head. "You're nothing but a bunch of weaklings. And here I was almost hoping for a challenge."

From where they were watching the fight, the Darkstriders were grinning in sadistic pleasure.

Diavelli turned to face Mario's newest partner… the only one left standing. "Now, Dulia," he said in a dark voice. "Get over here where you belong, and maybe I'll spare you the sight of me ending their games."

Dulia was shaking harder than she ever had before. She gazed fearfully up at the ringmaster, then glanced behind her at Mario and the others. They were all too weak to get back up, but they were looking expectantly at her, silently pleading with her, telling her she had to go on…

Promising her she wasn't alone…

She slowly turned back to Diavelli.

"N…_No_, Mr. Diavelli," she finally forced out. "I'm not going back to you ever again."

The ringmaster glared at her. "_What?_"

The Duplighost built up every reserve of courage she had. She glanced over at Mario, who gave her a look full of encouragement and compassion, and suddenly she knew she could do it.

"You… you always told me that I was worthless. You said the only good I'd ever be was helping you make money. But that's not true!" Her voice was steadily rising. "Mario doesn't think that at all! I only just met him and he's already made me feel like… like I can do something _good _with my life! He likes me just the way I am! And so do Benny and Imogen… if they're still there."

She gazed sadly over at her hypnotized friends, who were standing guard and cutting off their escape along with the rest of the performers. They made no motion to suggest that they'd heard her say their names.

Diavelli was glowering down at her. "Well, well… so you've finally grown a backbone. Quite a mistake. This will just make things harder on you."

"Shut up!" Dulia shouted at him, which surprised even herself. "I _am _gonna do something good with my life, right now! And that's saving all of my friends and making sure they never have to work for a dirty old scumbag like _you _ever again!"

Hanner grinned and actually started applauding her, which earned her a death glare from Goomblaine.

Diavelli stared at Dulia in disbelief. "You little brat!" he snarled. "It's time to end your delusions of grandeur once and for all!"

"I don't think so," Mario cut in. Dulia and Diavelli stared at him as he slowly and painfully pulled himself to his feet. "We're ending this now, Diavelli. You're not hurting Dulia or the others ever again."

"Yeah! We're not done here yet!" Hanner declared as she and the other partners jumped to their feet as well. Though they were all still weakened, Dulia had just given them all the resolve they needed.

Diavelli bristled in fury. "Fine, then! You've just made your inevitable demise all the more painful!" he spat. "Take _this!_"

And so the battle recommenced. Diavelli shot a devastating bolt of green lightning right at Dulia, but she spun around in a Superguard and negated the attack perfectly. While he was distracted with her, Goomblaine and Stubba both ran up. Goomblaine threw him off balance with a Headbonk while Stubba clonked him over the head and sent him to his knees.

"Why you – get away from me!" the ringmaster shouted, clearly starting to lose his cool. He climbed back to his feet and lashed out at both of them with a green lightning blast, but Stubba scrambled backwards and Goomblaine coolly backflipped out of the way. Diavelli was so fixated on them that he failed to notice Dulia attacking him from above, slamming into him again.

"Boy, this feels good!" she giggled.

"Yeah, beating up baddies is the best!" Hanner agreed, flashing the Duplighost a smile even as she threw her hammer and struck Diavelli in the face. He tried to attack her in retaliation, but Mario cut him off with a Power Bounce, beating him down mercilessly before finally backing away.

By now the ringmaster was clearly running out of energy. He panted heavily as he struggled to remain standing, but there was still rage burning in his eyes.

"I'm _not _going to be outdone by a bunch of no-accounts like you!" he screamed. "I'm bringing you down if it's the last thing I do!"

Mario stiffened in fear as he saw Diavelli starting to concentrate again, gathering his last bit of energy preparing to unleash another shockwave. There was no way they could sustain another hit like that –

But before he could even attack them, a lasso suddenly came flying up and tightened around him, pinning his arms to his side. He gasped as he lost his balance and collapsed to the floor, completely immobilized and without the energy to keep up the fight any longer.

"And _that_, I reckon, is the end a' that," Snatchel chuckled.

Mario sighed in relief. "Good work, everybody," he said with an approving smile.

"Yeah! We finally beat that loser creep!" Hanner laughed, twirling her hammer in a victory flourish.

"Yeah, we beat you good, you big dumb meanie!" Stubba taunted the fallen ringmaster.

But as Diavelli glared up at them, his eyes suddenly flashed. He wasn't done here yet.

"Not so fast!" he shouted, creating a magical burst that threw the lasso clean off of him. Snatchel staggered backwards in surprise as he lost his grip.

Mario frowned at him. "What do you think you're doing? You're in no condition to fight us anymore."

"Maybe not," Diavelli growled, "but I'll see to it that you never beat me! I was planning on defeating you in a fair fight, but it looks like it's time for me to play dirty!"

Mario's team stared in confusion, wondering what he was about to do… and then he reached into his sleeve and pulled out a rolled-up piece of paper, unfurling it for everyone to see.

Goomblaine frowned. "What's – "

"Uh oh." Mario blanched as he recognized the paper Diavelli was holding. "That's – "

"Your contract! Your _life _contract!" the ringmaster laughed sinisterly. "You signed your life away to me, you fool! You _all _did!"

Suddenly, Mario felt an irresistible force beginning to press down on him. He gasped as he saw himself begin to glow green, and realized to his horror that he couldn't even move. He was paralyzed.

_This is no good, _he thought in a panic. _Hanner, _please _tell me your plan is going to work…_

"Mario!" Hanner cried, but she was cut off as she began to glow too. Goomblaine, Stubba and Snatchel suddenly had the same thing happen to them, and within moments none of them could move a muscle.

"Everyone who joins my circus must sign a life contract," Diavelli sneered, gazing at them in their helpless state. "As long as those contracts are in effect, I _own _all of you. You can't move a muscle against me if I say you can't. You're nothing but mindless pawns, just like all of my other useless performers!"

Mario tried to fight back his rising fear, struggling vainly against the force that was holding him back and trying futilely to move. His partners were in the same condition. All of them were completely immobilized.

Except for Dulia, who was entirely unaffected.

Diavelli's gaze quickly fell to her and he noticed this immediately, stiffening in disbelief. Dulia stood nonchalantly where she was, blinking and looking somewhat surprised herself.

Even as he stood frozen, Mario grinned, realizing Hanner's plan was about to work.

"Wait a minute! What is the meaning of this?" Diavelli cried, pointing at Dulia again and again to absolutely no effect other than making her angry. She glared at him, all her nervousness quickly vanishing as she realized he was powerless against her.

"What's going on? Why isn't this _working?_"

"You need to do your research, Diavelli," Mario said smugly. "_Life _contracts don't work on _ghosts!_"

Diavelli's jaw dropped in utter disbelief. "_What? What?_" he screeched, unable to accept that his plans were about to be unmade.

"You only got me to do what you wanted because I was scared of you," said Dulia. "But I'm not scared anymore!"

Diavelli could only gawk in horror as she rose into the air, then careened downward and slammed into him in the most powerful Head Missile she'd ever pulled off. Her impact was so strong that it knocked the wind clear out of him, sending him skidding across the floor and causing his top hat to fly off his head.

The Sun Soul spilled out and rolled across the floor, clear out of his grasp.

All at once, all the power that Diavelli had built up completely dissipated. Without the Sun Soul in his control, he had nothing. And so his life contracts suddenly became, like Mario had said, just pieces of paper.

Mario smiled as the glow around him and his partners vanished, and they all returned to normal.

"What? NO! _NO!_" Diavelli shrieked, running over to the Sun Soul. But Mario was faster. He grabbed it off the ground and put it safely under his arm, grinning smugly at the ringmaster.

"Sorry, Mr. Diavelli," he said. "But I think your show is on its final curtain."

All his partners groaned loudly. Goomblaine smacked him in the head.

"…Sorry. I deserved that," he muttered sheepishly.

"Oh no you don't!" Diavelli snarled at him, standing back and facing his other performers. "All of you! Attack him!"

He had obviously failed to remember that without the Sun Soul, his mind control powers were gone as well. The performers just stood where they were, looking very confused and out of sorts. The red glow was noticeably absent from their eyes.

"Uh… what exactly are we all doing here?" asked Imogen, looking around and trying to remember how they'd gotten there. "I mean, it's _disgusting _in here!"

"The great Ninjinsky demands to know what is happening here!" Ninjinsky said irritably.

Diavelli grew very pale. "Oh, terrific…"

"Wait a minute! I remember now!" Scamp said angrily, turning to face Diavelli. "It was the boss-man! _He_ did somethin' to us!"

"Yeah, you're right," Imogen agreed, glaring at the ringmaster. "Hmm… he doesn't look so high and mighty right now, does he?"

Diavelli started to panic as he realized all the performers, including Dulia, were circling around him and the Darkstriders, cutting off their escape and looking very annoyed indeed.

"Now – now wait here!" Diavelli protested, turning to Jaff. "You three! Help me here! Do _something!_"

"Sorry, man. This was _your _failure," Pell replied unsympathetically. "We don't need King Shroude any angrier at us."

"I swear to you we'll meet again, Mario!" Jaff growled at the plumber before all three of them raised up their arms and vanished into thick black smoke.

"What? GET BACK HERE! YOU COWARDS!" Diavelli screamed after them, but they were already long gone. Once he realized that, he slowly and nervously turned to face the performers, who were all glaring daggers at him.

"Uh… you didn't happen to hear all that 'mindless pawn' talk, did you?"

"Shaddup," said Imogen, cracking her knuckles.

Diavelli whipped his head around in a panic, looking for an escape. When he found none, he finally just shoved Ninjinsky and Scamp out of the way and made a mad dash for the door.

"Don't let him get away!" Mario shouted. The performers all took after him, but he was too far ahead. For a minute it looked like he was going to escape –

And then just as he reached the door, Benny materialized in front of it, opening his mouth wide and baring his fangs and his tongue as he emitted a truly horrifying shriek.

Diavelli screamed, clutching at his chest as he backed away – only to bump into Imogen. He spun around and stared at her in fear, getting a glimpse of her sadistic grin before she fired a blast of wind straight at him. He was thrown off his feet and went sailing backwards, crashing headfirst into the wall before sliding motionlessly to the floor.

When he was too stunned to get back up, Mario's eyes widened as he realized what had happened.

"Guys… we did it!" he cheered. "We beat him! We won!"

The performers all realized this too, and once the full implications had finally sunk in, they all started cheering insanely as well, hugging each other and jumping for joy.

Finally, after all these years, Diavelli's grip on them was released. They were the masters of their own fate.

Benny flew over to join them, looking the happiest of all. "Guys! Didja see me? I actually did it! I _scared _somebody! I'M THE GREATEST!"

"Yeah, that's terrific, Benny," Imogen said disinterestedly as Scamp ordered his Trapeze Guys to grab Diavelli before he could try and make another escape. "Hey, Dulia… that was amazing, kiddo, but how'd you ever beat him? He had us all under his thumb!"

"Oh, well…" Dulia blushed and smiled. "It was simple, really. Life contracts don't work on ghosts!"

Benny frowned. "What? But _I'm _a ghost! Y'mean this whole time I could've just left whenever I felt like it?" He looked furious. "WHAT A GYP!"

Dulia turned her attention to him. "Oh, Benny, you silly…" she giggled, causing the Boo to flush bright red as he remembered what he'd been meaning to say to her for a long time.

"Dulia!" he cried, flying up to her. "I can't keep this inside of me any longer! There's something you have to know… I…" He swallowed. "Will you marry me?"

Everyone gasped. Dulia blinked several times.

"Uh, Benny… I think we're kinda young to be thinking about that."

"Oh." Benny looked thoughtful. "Well… will you marry me _eventually?_"

Dulia looked at him for a moment before breaking into a grin. "Oh, of _course _I will, Benny! I wouldn't marry anybody but you!"

Benny's eyes bulged. "You – you mean it?" he cried. "YAHOOOOOOO!" he cheered, somersaulting in midair and zooming around her in circles as she kept giggling.

"Congratulations. Together, you two will be the most socially awkward couple on the face of the earth," Imogen said snidely, though she had on a very genuine smile.

Mario was standing back and watching this whole thing, smiling to himself as well. "Well, she really did it," he remarked to himself. "I guess it was dumb of me for ever doubting her because she was a Duplighost, wasn't it?"

_Hmm, I'll say it was_, replied a somewhat wry voice. _You really are a bit of a thick-headed fool sometimes, Mario._

Mario frowned. "Yeah, thanks a lot. I miss you too."

_Oh, she doesn't mean that, Mario, _giggled a second voice that sounded much more shy and sweet. _But it's good that you trust her now... everyone deserves to have a second chance. You taught me that._

"Yeah… you're absolutely right," Mario agreed. "I guess if I went around judging people like that, I never would have been friends with you two, would I have?"

_And what's _that _supposed to mean? _asked the first voice. _You're trying to tell me you didn't like me right away? Everyone likes me!_

_Well, you _can _be a little scary, _the second voice replied. _Oh, don't mind us, Mario. We'll both be your friends forever, no matter what. And I think she will too._

_By the way, Mario, that little Clubba should be glad you didn't ask _me _about him, _said the first voice. _I would have told you to leave him! GWA HEE HA!_

"Right… I'll remember that," Mario said in a deadpan. "Well, that's it. Diavelli's gone… the Starshine Circus is finally the way it should be." He glanced down at the Sun Soul under his arms, which was glowing and straining to be let go. "That means there's just one thing left."

He opened his arms, and the Sun Soul immediately floated away and drifted over to the person it was desperately seeking out.

Dulia had been happily and excitedly chatting with her friends, but her attention was quickly drawn away from them as she noticed the Sun Soul hovering right next to her. She turned and stared at it in awe, overcome with the same inexplicable feeling she'd felt when she'd first seen it.

"Oh… M-Mario," she said timidly, taking it in her hands, "what's going on with this Sun Soul? It… why does it feel like… it wants to be with me?"

"What, you mean you haven't figured it out yet?" Mario said with a smile as he and the other partners walked up to her. "Those Sun Souls belong with the Guardians, remember? Diavelli was trying to use it for himself… but he couldn't keep it from the person it truly belongs to."

Dulia kept staring at the Sun Soul… and ever so slowly, she slowly seemed to realize what he meant. Her eyes grew wide.

"Oh… oh, _Mario!_" she cried, looking shocked. "But I… you can't mean it! How can I be a Guardian? I _can't! _I'm just little old me!"

"Are you kidding? You beat Diavelli and saved the whole circus, remember?" Hanner laughed. "I don't think a regular old person could do something like that!"

"Don't worry, Dulia! We're all Guardians too!" Stubba said with a big smile. "You're just like us!"

"Yeah, you're part a' the bandwagon now," Snatchel agreed. "And boy, are we ever glad to have ya!"

Dulia stared at all of them in disbelief. "You guys… you're all…" Then she turned to Mario. "Oh, Mario… then this means…"

Mario smiled sadly. "I know you wanted to stay with your friends, Dulia," he said. "But I'd be absolutely honored if you'd be part of the team. We have to save this world… and we can't do it without you."

For a moment Dulia didn't respond. She looked at him unsurely, not knowing what she should decide, afraid of what the future would hold if she decided to go with them…

And then her newfound courage took over again, and she nodded.

"Oh, Mario… of course I'll go with you," she said loyally. "You saved me! I wouldn't be anything at all if it weren't for you! Oh, Mario…" Her eyes were filling with happy tears. "Thank you so much!"

"No, Dulia. Thank _you_," Mario said fondly, putting an arm around her. The Sun Soul in her hands starting shining even more brightly than before, seeming to react to the joy she was finally feeling after so long.

_**Mario found the Meridiem Soul! His Star Power is now 4! With Dulia's help, he can now use the special move, Fire Away!**_

**~END OF CHAPTER~**

_Mario and his companions delved deep into the secrets of the Starshine Circus, unraveling its many mysteries and treacheries. With the help of his new friend Dulia, he defeated the sinister Diavelli and brought peace back to the circus. But Diavelli's quest to use the Sun Soul for himself is not something Mario will soon forget… could there be other, more dangerous foes seeking the Sun Souls for the same purpose?_

_**To Be Continued…**_

––––

**A/N: **Well, even if the plot got a little (read: extremely) convoluted at times, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. :D It was kinda different, but that's why I like it. And as always, I advise you to stay tuned for the next chapter. There's about to be some _serious_ stuff going down…


	29. Chapter 4 Interlude

_**The Temple of the Sun**_

_**00:00**_

Not much had happened since Peach, Luigi and Toadsworth had last ventured down the stairs. There had been no further visit from King Shroude, and they hadn't found out any more information about the Sun Souls. Currently they were trying to find some way to pass the time, but it wasn't working very well.

"Oh, I can't _stand _it any longer," Peach finally fumed, standing up quickly. "I can't stand just _sitting _up here and not knowing what's going on, when Mario could be in danger for all we know!"

"Now… Peach, we shouldn't go down those stairs unless we absolutely have to," Luigi said timidly. "We could get in _big _trouble if we're caught. We have to stay safe."

Peach rolled her eyes. "Oh, Luigi… if we do nothing but stay up here, then we'll never find out where the next Sun Soul is and _no_ one will be safe!" She marched over to the clock. "Now come on, you two! I'm through with waiting!"

"It's no use, lad… she's always like this," Toadsworth muttered to Luigi as they walked after her. "I can't get her to stay put no matter what I do. It's a wonder she doesn't get kidnapped even _more _often."

Peach opened up the stairway under the clock, and once again, the group made their way slowly down to the lower floor of the Temple. They arrived in the ornate gold and green hallway, and looking around, they saw that it was empty.

"Princess Peach, if you don't mind my asking… what exactly is our plan?" asked Luigi. It was clear from the look on his face that he didn't like being down here one bit.

Peach just shrugged. "We do what we always do, Luigi… we look around for clues! Now let's go!"

So they walked quietly down the hallway, with Peach taking the lead as she pulled open every door on each side and glanced into every room. Unfortunately, all of them were empty.

"I knew this was a bad idea," Luigi whimpered. "We're not going to find anything, and we're going to get caught, and – "

"Oh, my! What's _this _room?"

Peach had just pulled open the door to the large room where King Shroude had last held his meeting with the Darkstriders. Luigi recognized the place instantly; this was the room he'd had to infiltrate. This time, however, the windows were dark and the room was almost completely impossible to see.

"This place is beautiful," Peach breathed. Even without the light, she could make out the vaulting ceiling, the red carpet, and the altar at the far end. "I wonder what sort of things are in here?"

"Princess, this is highly unadvisable," Toadsworth snapped as Peach walked down the carpet, gazing around at the room. "Clearly there's nothing in here. We should leave before it's too late."

"Toadsworth, I'm just looking around," she assured him. "What's the harm in that? After all, there could be an important clue hidden somewhere in here!"

Toadsworth and Luigi reluctantly decided she wouldn't be swayed. And so all three of them wandered up the red carpet, glancing around nervously before they finally arrived at the altar.

"We _really _shouldn't be in here… what if we get caught?" Luigi protested.

"We're not going to be caught, Luigi. All we have to do is – "

"My lord? You summoned us?"

Everyone jumped in complete horror upon hearing the familiar voice coming from the entrance.

Peach spun around in a panic. "_What do we do?_" she whispered loudly.

"_Hide!_" Luigi hissed, grabbing her by the wrist and yanking her under the altar. Toadsworth, unfortunately, wasn't quick enough, and found himself looking around frantically before three figures suddenly appeared in the doorway.

"My lord, is that you?" asked Jaff, squinting in the darkness. It was really impossible to see.

Toadsworth's mind was racing. "I… uh…"

He cleared his throat. "Uh, yes, it's me," he said loudly, trying to impersonate Shroude's voice. "What do you want?"

Luigi's eyes widened in disbelief as Peach smacked herself in the forehead. "We're doomed," she muttered.

"Er… my lord, I'm afraid we come with bad news," Jaff sighed, preparing himself for a verbal lashing as he and the others took a few steps into the room. "Mario defeated that ringmaster. He has the fourth Sun Soul."

From where she was hiding, Peach's heart leapt in excitement. Toadsworth was obviously excited as well, but caught himself before he broke character.

"Oh… well, yes, that is unfortunate…"

"But it was _his _fault, not ours!" Pell insisted. "Please, my lord, we've done everything you told us to… don't punish us for this!"

Toadsworth blinked rapidly. "What? Oh… no, no, that's quite all right, chaps – er, minions."

All three Darkstriders looked stunned. "Are… are you certain, my lord?" asked Jaff.

"Oh, yes. We shall apprehend that no-good Mario next time, I'm sure."

Peach and Luigi had to try very hard not to burst out giggling. Toadsworth was enjoying himself a little too much.

"…So then, does that mean we should go guard the next Sun Soul now?" Nobb asked once he realized they weren't going to be punished. "Mario'll probably get over there in no time – _OW!_"

"Just how thick _are _you?" hissed Jaff, who had just cut him off with a smack to the head. "You want us to go _back_ to that nightmarish place? We barely made it out of there with our lives the first time!"

Toadsworth was intrigued. "Er… uh… remind me again, where did you hide the next Sun Soul?" he ventured.

Jaff turned to him. "The Poisoned Factory, my lord… the one at the source of the Trickleback River," he replied. "But you must have heard of that place… nothing could possibly survive there long. We hid the Sun Soul there as a last resort."

"Yeah! No matter what, there's no _way _Mario could get through there with his life," Pell agreed with a shudder. "Even we were creeped out by that place."

Peach and Luigi glanced at each other. Toadsworth pondered this for a moment, then quickly cleared his throat.

"Erm, well… very good, then," he decided. "If that's the truth, I suppose there's no point in going after Mario, now is there?"

Pell's eyes lit up. "You mean it?"

"Oh yes. As a matter of fact, I strictly forbid you from going over there. Erm – yes. It certainly won't do to have you all in danger."

The Darkstriders all looked relieved. "You are too kind, my lord," Jaff said graciously. "If that is the case, we will return to the more pressing matter. You wish us to continue testing King Bowser, correct?"

"What?" Toadsworth said dumbly before he noticed Peach giving him a frantic gesture. "Oh, I mean – yes, of course. King Bowser."

"I assure you, he will meet your requirements perfectly," said Jaff. "We'll see to him right now."

"Uh, yes, very good," Toadsworth agreed. The Darkstriders immediately stepped back and were enveloped in a cloud of smoke, disappearing without another word.

Once a tense moment had passed and they realized they were alone again, Peach and Luigi quietly stood up as Toadsworth turned to face them smugly.

"Well, I say, I didn't realize I was so good at impressions," he chortled.

"Yes, Toadsworth, that's wonderful," Peach said somewhat hastily. "Now let's get out of here quickly, before we're found out!"

"That's what _I _said _before!_" Luigi said fretfully. The three of them raced out of the room as quickly as they could, with Peach pulling Toadsworth along as their minds raced with the information they had just learned.

The minute they had gone, an enormous pillar of black smoke suddenly rose up out of the floor and King Shroude appeared in the room.

When he realized he was alone, he frowned deeply. "Jaff! Pell! Nobb!" he snapped, looking around impatiently. "I summoned them for a meeting in here! Where _are _they?"

He stomped the floor with his scepter. "DARKSTRIDERS!"

There was absolutely no reply.

Shroude sighed and massaged his temple. "Minions…" he grumbled.

––

"Well, I do say that was a most productive excursion," Toadsworth said proudly as the trio returned to the top of the stairs. "Master Mario will be quite pleased to know where the next Sun Soul is."

Luigi frowned. "Yeah… doesn't sound as fun as a circus," he remarked. "A factory in the middle of some river? Princess Peach, do you know anything about that?"

"Well, I've read all about Trickleback River," Peach assured them. "It's the largest body of water in Chronoside… it's where the entire country gets its water from. But I've never heard anything about a factory…"

"It sure sounded dangerous, though," Luigi went on faintly. "Even those blue guys didn't like talking about it… I sure hope Mario knows what he's getting into."

"Oh, don't worry, Luigi," Peach sighed, trying to be optimistic. "Mario's made it this far already. I'm sure… whatever's in that factory, he'll take care of it."

Luigi and Toadsworth could only gaze glumly at her, hoping she was right. She put on an encouraging expression for them, but it didn't seem to be working.

She didn't know why, but suddenly she was having trouble believing her own words… what could possibly be going on in that factory to frighten even the Darkstriders?

Something told Peach that Mario's quest was about to get much, _much _more difficult.

––

––

_**Soluna Town**_

_**12:00 Noon**_

Inside one of the many shops in Soluna Town, the two Toads who ran the place were jovially going about their business, humming to themselves as they dusted the counter and stocked the shelves.

This was obviously too good to last.

"GRAW! All right, pipsqueaks, open up!" Bowser shouted as he literally ripped the door off its hinges and flung it away. "The great Bowser is hungry, so fork over your good stuff!"

"What the – AAAAAAHHH! WHAT IS THAT THING?" shrieked one of the Toads. "I must be seeing things! I knew I had too many Mushrooms!"

"Oh, whatever. You nerds are no help," Bowser sniffed as both Toads frantically dived behind the counter. "Now let's see, what have we got in here? I'm famished!"

"King Bowser! What do you think you're doing?"

Just as he was about to start raiding the shelves, Bowser froze in place, then reluctantly turned around to find himself looking down at the Darkstriders. Jaff was glaring up at him.

"Oh, it's you three again," he muttered. "Whaddaya mean, what am I doing? I can do whatever I want around here! Haven't you ever heard of _diplomatic immunity?_"

"King Bowser, if you please," Jaff said impatiently. "We've come to administer to you the second test. In case you forgot, we still haven't deemed you worthy of fighting Mario just yet."

Bowser looked highly insulted. "You're joking, right?" he said, folding his arms. "C'mon! I'm Bowser! The king of the ring! The supreme awesome guy!"

"Well, if that's true, then passing these tests should be no problem for you at all," Jaff replied with a glimmer in his eye. "Now do accept our conditions or don't you?"

Bowser glowered at him. "Oh, fine," he muttered. "This better all be worth it when I finally get to pummel Mario."

"Perfect," said Jaff. "Your test begins – right now!"

Then, to Bowser's complete shock, the backdrop of the store around them suddenly fell away piece by piece. Within moments they were all on the set of a game show. Bowser was standing behind a podium, and so were Pell and Nobb.

"What in the – " Bowser whipped his head around. "…Why does this seem vaguely familiar?"

Pell was freaking out. "WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?"

"King Shroude had better appreciate this… this is incredibly degrading," muttered Jaff, who was standing in front of them and wearing a big gaudy bowtie for some reason. "Oh, I mean – welcome, one and all, to this year's edition of everyone's favorite game show: Know Your Chronoside! We have a special guest today, ladies and gentlemen, so put your hands together for the one, the only, King Bowser Koopa!"

An unseen audience started cheering wildly. Bowser grinned smugly as he waved and bowed, not even questioning the impossibility of all this.

"All right, gentlemen, here is your first question," said Jaff, pulling out a cue card. "Which is better, Day or Night?"

Bowser blinked. "What? What kinda dumb question is that?"

"King Bowser, please follow the rules! You must buzz in your answer!" Jaff snapped.

"Oh, sorry." Bowser slammed his buzzer. "What kinda dumb question is that?"

A loud buzzing noise sounded as the unseen audience started booing. Bowser looked stunned.

"I'm afraid the correct answer was 'Night', King Bowser," Jaff said sternly. "Remember, to pass this test, you must answer three of the five questions. Now, moving on: What is the goal of our supreme leader, King Shroude?"

Nobb slammed his buzzer. "Throw an ice cream party?"

The buzzing noise sounded again as Jaff stared at him incredulously. "Nobb! What are you talking about?"

"I'm sorry! It's all the excitement! I can't think straight!"

"Oh, for the love of – " Bowser rolled his eyes and slammed his buzzer. "He wants to get rid of Daytime, or something like that!"

A pleasant ding sounded as Jaff nodded. "Very good, King Bowser! You are correct! Now, your next question: Who is the most hated foe of King Shroude who must be eliminated at all costs?"

"Oh, I got this one," Bowser chuckled, slamming his buzzer. "It's Mario!"

The ding sounded again, and the audience cheered wildly as Bowser started flexing for them.

"Another correct answer, King Bowser," Jaff said in approval. "The stakes are rising, gentlemen. It's anyone's game. Now, question number four: What mystical relics must Mario be prevented from ever obtaining?"

Nobb slammed his buzzer. "The Ice Cream Sundaes of Power?"

The buzzing noise sounded as Jaff smacked himself in the forehead. "What is _wrong _with you, Nobb? What is it with you and ice cream?"

"I'm _sorry_, all right? I'm hungry!"

Pell slammed his buzzer. "The Sun Souls!"

The dinging noise sounded as Pell shook his fists in the air and the audience cheered.

"Well, King Bowser, it all comes down to this," Jaff said in a serious voice. "You _must _answer this question correctly in order to pass the test."

"Yeah? Bring it, baby!" Bowser sneered, pounding on his podium.

"Your final question…" Jaff dramatically pulled out the cue card. "Who is the supreme ruler of Chronoside, who will reign glorious over us all for all eternity?"

Nobb slammed his buzzer. "Sorry, I'm not answering – I just gotta ask, can we _please _break for lunch? I'm starving!"

Jaff's eye twitched dangerously. "THAT'S IT, NOBB! I'VE HAD IT WITH YOU!" he roared, throwing his microphone at Nobb and hitting him in the head.

Bowser shook his head. "Well, better give these guys what they want – just think of beating up Mario. It'll all pay off."

He slammed his buzzer. "King Shroude?"

The dinging noise sounded, and confetti suddenly fell from the ceiling as the audience burst into insane applause.

"That is correct! Ladies and gentlemen, the winner of this year's Know Your Chronoside: _King Bowser!_"

"WOO! YEAH! I am awesome! You love me! You dig me!" Bowser sang, doing a victory dance. He was so caught up in it that he failed to notice the game show stage disappearing around them as the backdrop of the store rose back up into place.

"What the – " He saw what had happened and blinked. "Aw, darn it."

"That was the single most humiliating experience of my life. None of this _ever _leaves this building," Jaff hissed, ripping off his bowtie. "All right, then, King Bowser, you have passed the second test. Congratulations. We will return here to administer the next test before long."

Bowser frowned. "_What? _Oh, come on! That wasn't enough? What else do I gotta do to please you guys?"

"King Shroude will inform us when he deems you worthy," Jeff replied curtly. "Wait for our return. Pell, Nobb, let's go."

"Yeah, yeah, go do whatever," Bowser grumbled as the Darkstriders backed away and disappeared into black smoke. "What do I care. I can keep myself entertained until then."

Muttering to himself, he stomped out of the store, but not before swiping a Super Shroom off one of the shelves for good measure.

The two Toad shopkeepers, who had witnessed this entire spectacle, slowly rose up from behind the counter, looking fearfully at each other.

"Yeah… I _definitely _had too many Mushrooms," said the first one.

––––

**A/N: **Eh, not much to say about this one. Basically just waiting for Chapter 5 to start at this point. :P Sorry you guys had to wait so long for a boring update.


	30. Post Chapter 4

**A/N: **Hey, look, another update already. You have winter break to thank for this.

––––

_**Starshine Circus**_

_**1:30 am**_

Mario's team and all the performers had returned to the circus grounds for a large amount of celebrating and relaxing. Dulia was having such a wonderful time with all of her friends that she never wanted it to end, but finally the inevitable happened and Mario decided it was time for his party to carry on with their adventure.

"So… you guys are going?" Benny asked unhappily as they were all standing around in the middle of the circus tent. "Well… gosh, we can't thank you guys enough for everything you did for us. We'll never forget you."

"Yeah, I guess you guys coming here was a good thing after all. Who knew," Imogen remarked.

"It was our pleasure," Mario assured them. "But now that you guys are all free, what are you going to do?"

Imogen smirked. "Well, we _were _planning on getting as far away from this circus as possible…"

"…But then we figured out, we don't know how to do much of anything else," Scamp finished.

Mario blinked. "Huh?"

"Yeah, we're staying here after all," Benny said with a smile. "Don't worry about us… Diavelli's gone. Things are gonna be completely different around here. This circus is going to be the way _we _want it to be."

Hanner beamed. "That's great! We'll be sure to come watch you guys whenever we can!"

Mario turned to his newest partner. "Is that all right with you, Dulia?" he asked. "I mean, once we're done saving the world, do you really want to go back to performing?"

Dulia smiled at him. "Oh… I'll be just fine, Mario," she promised. "As long as I'm with my friends, I'll be happy. I'm part of the Starshine Circus, now and forever!"

Benny frowned. "Oh, Dulia… do you really have to leave?" he asked plaintively, floating over to her. "I mean… I know you're off doing something important and all, but I'm really – I mean, _we're _really gonna miss you…"

"Don't worry, Benny," said Dulia, pecking him on the cheek. "I'll be back before you know it. Besides… this is something I have to do. You and Gen were always looking after me. Now I have to go and do this for _you _guys."

Benny stared at her with wide eyes as she said that. He briefly started shaking all over before he finally burst into tears.

"Oh – oh my _gosh! _Th-that's so – so _beautiful!_" he sobbed. Dulia was completely taken aback by his reaction and could only pat him on the back.

Imogen rolled her eyes. "Thank you, Benny. I was afraid this goodbye wasn't sappy enough already."

Dulia immediately noticed her. "And I'll miss you too, Gen," she said, walking over and giving her a hug. "You've always been just like a big sister…"

Imogen looked stunned at Dulia's display of affection. "Wait a sec – why am I feeling all emotional all of a sudden?" she protested. "I… oh, what the heck. Just be careful out there, kiddo," she said, ruffling Dulia's hair.

Mario smiled at this until Imogen noticed him and turned to him. "And _you_," she said. "If I get word that you let _one _little hair on her head get hurt…" She pounded her fist into her palm.

Mario blanched a little. "Uh… right. I'll remember that."

"Oh, you guys don't have to worry," Hanner said good-naturedly. "She'll be just fine with us."

"Wouldn't let anything happen to the little darlin'," Snatchel agreed.

"Yeah! If anybody tries to hurt her, I'll beat 'em up like _this!_" said Stubba, demonstratively swinging his club around and smashing it into the ground.

Even Imogen had to laugh at that.

––

––

_**Soluna Town**_

_**12:00 Noon**_

Once the team had bidden farewell to the circus and ridden the trolley back to Soluna Town, Mario had immediately returned them to the Daytime world, figuring Dulia would like to see the sun again. He was right. She laughed ecstatically as she scampered around town, twirling around and basking in the midday light.

"Oh, I've missed this so _much_," she sighed, ignoring the looks she was getting from passerby. "Mario, let's not go back to Nightside unless we absolutely have to, okay?"

"Well, we'll have to eventually," Mario told her. "But I can only imagine how awful it must be living in Nightside when you can still remember the sun… don't worry, all of that's over."

Just like last time, Mario's first course of action was to lead Dulia over to the Star Pedestal in the center of town. He pulled out one of the two Lumas he was still carting around, and it immediately hopped up onto the pedestal in excitement. Dulia was stunned when it told her it was willing to level her up out of gratitude.

"Oh… Mario! Are you sure you want to do this for me?" she asked, starting to blush.

"Dulia, of course! Everybody on this team gets to be leveled up, and you're no exception!" Mario assured her. Mollified, she watched and giggled nervously as the Luma started twirling around and the ensuing sparkles enveloped her in a bright flash.

_Dulia was upgraded to Super Rank! She can now use Plasma Shield to protect Mario and absorb an attack!_

"Oh, wow," Dulia marveled, gazing down at herself as the Luma ascended into the sky in a beam of light. "This is so cool! Now I can help you even more, Mario! That's so great!"

Mario grinned. He wished everybody could be as enthusiastic as she was.

With nothing else to take care of, the plumber led his team over to Rodolfo's house just like he always did, but as he knocked on the door he was confused to find that no one was answering. He tried opening the door himself, but it was locked.

"He's not home?" asked Hanner. "That's not like him! Where could he be?"

"I knew he'd flake out on us," Goomblaine grumbled.

"Mario? Oh, Mario! Over here!" came a voice from across the street. Surprised, Mario turned around and saw Rodolfo, along with Peach, Luigi and Toadsworth, sitting at a table outside a small café and waving at them. Each of them had a small glass of water in front of them.

"Oh, there you guys are," Mario said in relief as his group walked across the street and joined them.

"Sorry if we worried you, Mario. I hope you don't mind us getting out of the house for a while. It was getting quite cramped in there," Rodolfo chuckled. "So, then! I see we have another teammate with us!"

"Oh, she's positively _precious!_" Peach fawned, dashing over to Dulia and maternally straightening out her clown collar. The Duplighost looked a little uneasy.

"Don't worry. She does this a lot," Mario muttered to her. "Uh, so anyway, Peach, can you tell us where the next Sun Soul is?"

Peach's smile fell slightly. "Well… you might not like this, Mario," she replied. "We all found out that this one's being held in some factory, at the source of the Trickleback River. It sounds like a very dangerous place."

Mario looked puzzled. "A factory? Rodolfo, do you know anything about that?"

"No, I can't say I can," Rodolfo replied with a shake of his head. "But if Princess Peach is correct and it's at the source of the Trickleback River, it shouldn't be at all hard to find. That river is the single most important landmark in the country, after all!"

Mario quickly handed Rodolfo the map to see what he meant. The Doogan unrolled it over the table and gestured at a thick blue line that ran through the country, going northeast out of Soluna Town before bending to the southeast, which was its origin. Countless smaller rivers and creeks branched off along its entire length, spidering out and covering every region of the country. Mario realized he'd noticed this river every other time he'd looked at the map, but had never thought anything of it.

"So, we're going to have to go upstream to get to the source of this river," he interpreted. "And then what? We don't have any idea about this factory, wherever it is. We should have a better idea of what we're getting into."

Rodolfo shrugged. "I'm sorry, Mario, but I'm afraid there's not much else to find out. Perhaps during your travels up the river you'll find someone who can give you more information. Until then, you'd better just – "

He was very abruptly cut off by Peach. She had been in the middle of taking a sip of her glass of water, when suddenly her eyes bulged and she violently spat the water out with a look of disgust.

Mario turned to her in shock. "Peach? Are you okay?"

Peach had dropped her glass and was now panting as she grabbed at her throat. "There's… there's something wrong with that water…" she gasped.

Mario frowned. "What?"

Confused, he reached down and picked up Peach's glass. Ever so slowly and carefully, he brought it up and smelled it – and the odor was so repugnant that he jerked backward and literally threw the glass out of his hands.

The worst part was, he _recognized _that smell.

"The water…" he muttered as everyone stared at him in fright. "It smells like… it's been poisoned."

Before anyone could say anything else, they suddenly heard a series of loud, confused shouts coming from inside the café. The entire group rushed inside and realized what was going on. Back in the kitchen area, the sink that the employees were using to wash dishes was suddenly spewing out a disgusting green-black sludge. All the customers gasped and screamed, and several ran right out the door.

"M…Mario? What's going on?" Stubba asked nervously.

"Oh no… oh no oh no…" Luigi whimpered as he realized something. "Princess Peach… that factory… it was called the _Poisoned _Factory, wasn't it?"

Everyone stared at him.

"Everyone meet back in my house," Rodolfo said quietly.

––

"This is worse than I feared," the Doogan fretted, pacing back and forth in his living room where everyone else was seated. "I've turned on my own faucet and asked my neighbors, and we're all having the same problems. Ladies and gentlemen, something is poisoning the water in Soluna Town."

Stubba whimpered in fear and held tightly onto Hanner's arm, but she wasn't looking very reassured herself.

"But Rodolfo, what does this have to do with the factory?" asked Mario.

"Weren't you _listening, _Mario?" Rodolfo cried, throwing up his arms. "The Trickleback River is the source of water for all of Chronoside! And this Poisoned Factory, as it seems to be known, is located at the _very source _of the river! The only logical explanation is that the factory has been polluting our precious river, and now we in Soluna Town are feeling the effects!"

"But that means – " Snatchel realized. "That river goes through the whole country! Yer sayin' everybody in Chronoside is gonna get poisoned if we don't do somethin'?"

"But Mr. Rodolfo! Who on earth would build a factory right at the source of the river, if they knew something like this would happen?" Dulia protested.

"Someone who doesn't give a lick about the consequences, that's who," the Doogan sighed, shaking his head sadly. "There's more than enough people in the world like that, I'm afraid."

Goomblaine just rolled his eyes, not seeming very concerned about all this. "So lemme guess. We gotta go be a bunch of heroes and shut down this dumb factory before everybody dies or somethin'."

"If anyone can do this, then it's all of you," Rodolfo agreed with a nod. "Perhaps it's only a coincidence that the Eve Soul has been hidden within that factory, but perhaps not. Either way, Mario, this quest of yours has just reached critical importance. If you don't rectify this, and _quickly_, the entire country may reach a state of emergency."

"Okay then. We'd better get out of here before things get too crazy." Mario pushed out his chair and stood up. "Uh, Rodolfo, what's the quickest way we can get to the river, anyway?"

"Well… normally I wouldn't recommend this, but time is obviously not on our side. The absolute fastest way is to travel to the sewers underneath Soluna Town. They empty out into the river, and with any luck, from there you'll be able to follow it all the way to the factory. And remember, not only do you have to find the Eve Soul, you have to shut that horrid place _down._"

"_Please _be careful out there, Mario," Peach pleaded, holding her hands to her chest. "I'm so worried for you. Something truly dangerous is going on."

"Don't worry, Peach… we're coming back, I promise. Have I ever let you down before?"

With that, Mario quickly led his team out Rodolfo's door and into the street. As he did, he couldn't help but realize that the feeling of excitement he normally had at starting a new leg of the adventure was entirely absent. As they set out, he and his team were feeling nothing but dread.

––

As they set off down the street, the group saw that things were very quickly going downhill in Soluna Town. Everyone was either running around in a panic or shouting at each other in agitation and fright.

"This is _awful_," Hanner fretted as she looked around. "Mario, we gotta do something about this, and fast! This town can't last long without any water!"

"I know, I know," Mario muttered, rubbing his head in exasperation. "Guys, everybody stay together. I don't want us getting split up in the middle of all this."

They plowed through the town, trying their hardest to ignore the confusion and chaos going on around them. Mario's heart was hammering. The capital city of Chronoside was falling to pieces all around him. If they couldn't make it to this factory and put an end to it, King Shroude might become the _least _of their worries…

"Guys! Look over here!" Dulia alerted the group. They had arrived in the northeastern part of town, and now she dashed over to the middle of the road where a large manhole cover was set.

"I guess that's our way into the sewers," Mario decided, wrinkling his nose in distaste. "I hope it's not too filthy down there."

"What do you care? Aren't you supposed to be a _plumber?_" Goomblaine snorted. Mario ignored him and walked right on top of the manhole cover, wondering how to get down there. It was set firmly into the ground, and he didn't think he could pull it out…

"Hmm… aha!"

He immediately flipped into the air and performed a Spin Jump on the lid, causing it to flip over and send him plummeting into the sewers. His partners stared after him, then quickly followed him down one by one.

––

_**Soluna Sewers**_

_**12:00 Noon**_

"Yuck…" Mario grumbled, lifting his head up off the wet floor and getting a look around. It was wide and spacious down here, but on the other hand, it was also dark, dank and smelly, and there were a bunch of leaky pipes running above their heads.

"Is this _really _the only way?" Hanner complained, looking thoroughly uncomfortable as she glanced around. "Let's hurry up. It's really gross down here."

"Wow, _really? _I didn't notice," Goomblaine snapped.

Mario had to agree with Hanner and quickly urged the party on their way. As they traipsed through the sewers, they found that the place was populated largely by Gloombas, as well as a few Shady Koopas here and there. As always, Mario couldn't understand why anyone would choose to live in a place like this.

Their journey was mostly uneventful and consisted mainly of plowing blindly in what they thought was the right direction. Every once in a while they'd have to hop from platform to platform or climb in a Warp Pipe in order to travel further through, and once Stubba had to smash down a wall in order to clear their way. They picked up a Maple Syrup and a Power Rush Badge along the way, but that was about it.

Finally, they found what they were looking for.

"Guys, look!" said Mario once they'd emerged in another room, pointing at what held his attention. There was a shallow waterway set into the floor, and some very disgusting-looking water was flowing through it. As they ran alongside the waterway, they eventually saw that it led up to a deep water-filled trench, and behind that, a very tall and wide semicircular tunnel that was sticking out of a wall.

"Do we have to go in _there, _Mario?" asked Stubba as they all peered into the large tunnel. Most of them shuddered as they saw it was pitch black and impossible to see to the other end.

"I think so, Stubba," Mario said regretfully. He'd just noticed a wooden sign set in the floor that read "To Trickleback River", with an arrow pointing right into the tunnel.

"Well, let's get it over with then," Hanner sighed, taking one tentative step into the ankle-deep water. Everyone else followed her in, and they were just about to head into the tunnel when…

"**BLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!**"

Hanner jumped back in fright. "What the heck?"

"Oh no…" Mario groaned as he felt a rumbling beneath them. "Not this again…"

The water within the trench began to churn violently, and then suddenly, an absolutely enormous Blooper came exploding out from underneath the surface. It threw up a shower of filthy, murky water that drenched the entire group (and caused Hanner and Dulia to shriek in disgust) and towered over them, waving its tentacles erratically.

"Holy calamari… look at the _size _a' that thing!" cried Snatchel.

"Of course. We're in the sewers. Guess I should've seen this one coming," Mario grumbled, pulling out his hammer.

But as he looked, he realized there was something very wrong about this Blooper. It was completely covered in a thick layer of poisonous sludge that it didn't seem able to remove; if you didn't know Bloopers were white, you wouldn't be able to tell from looking at this one. For some reason it wasn't looking directly at them, either; its eyes were rolling around in its head, as though it were dizzy or just plain couldn't think straight.

"Uh… hi there," Mario began timidly. "Uh, we're trying to get to the river… you don't think you could, you know… be a pal and move out of the way for us?"

"_**BLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!**_" the Blooper bellowed in response, immediately rushing the group.

"Didn't think so," Mario grumbled as the battle commenced.

Goomblaine pulled out his phone. "Okay chumps, listen up! This thing's called the Polluper Blooper! …Man, seriously, who comes up with these dumb names… It can either whack us around with those big tentacles or shoot poisonous ink at us! And 'cause it's covered in that gunk, you can't even _touch _that thing or you'll be poisoned!"

"What? Are you serious?" Mario cried. "All right, fine… Hanner, Stubba, looks like we're the only ones who can attack this thing."

Hanner and Stubba both gulped but courageously stepped forward. Mario took the initiative and made the first move by pounding on the Polluper Blooper's tentacle, taking care not to touch it. The Blooper immediately responded by smacking him with the tentacle, throwing him off his feet and sending him splashing down into the water.

"Gross…" he complained, standing up and finding himself covered in the Blooper's toxic sludge. He quickly snapped to attention as he saw Hanner throwing a Shrink Hammer at their opponent. In the blink of an eye it decreased to the size of a regular Blooper, and the horrible stench in the room thankfully decreased along with it.

"Good idea, Hanner," Mario said with approval. The Blooper trumpeted in anger at this turn of events and tried to charge at her, but then Stubba ran up and ferociously Clubbed it over the head. With its attention torn between the two of them, the Polluper Blooper was getting disoriented.

"I feel awful just standing here… can't we do anything?" Dulia fretted from the sideline.

"If you _wanna _ram your head into that thing, be my guest!" Goomblaine retorted sharply.

Meanwhile, Mario ran up again and repeatedly pounded the Blooper with his hammer. His other two partners went to work on it as well, but they immediately broke off in fear as they felt a rumbling. They couldn't get back in time before the shrinking effect wore off and Blooper ballooned back up to its original size. Mario and his partners were violently thrown back from the wave that this generated and went plunging into the water again.

"Oh, perfect," Hanner muttered as they slowly stood up. After her little trick, it was looking more furious than ever.

Mario was grasping at straws to figure out a way to safely attack the Blooper. He frantically dug around in his pockets and pulled out a Thunder Bolt he hadn't ever used, holding it up high and zapping the huge beast. It roared in pain and quickly turned its attention to him, spewing out an enormous spray of ink.

Mario leapt out of the way in a panic, and he was glad he did. That ink was hissing like acid.

"Mario? …Mario, look out!"

"What?" He turned to face Hanner, but she'd warned him too late.

"YEAAAUGHHH!" he screamed as he felt himself being pulled off the ground. The Polluper Blooper had grabbed him in its tentacle as was squeezing him in a death grip, thrashing him around in the air.

"Mario!" Stubba screamed, frantically pounding on the Blooper's other tentacles, but it completely ignored him. It continued to whip Mario back and forth before it finally hurled him out of its grasp, sending him splashing into the water with a scream.

He sat up, and he was immediately hit with a wave of nausea that caused him to double over in pain. The Blooper hand gripped him for too long. He was poisoned.

"Mario, Mario, are you okay?" Stubba cried, loyally splashing over to him.

"Stubba – " Mario weakly tried to gesture to the little Clubba that he had to pay attention to the fight, but he never got the chance. In an instant, Stubba was swept up in the Blooper's tentacle as well.

"HEY! Let go of him!" Hanner shouted, frantically throwing hammers at it. It responded by turning and spraying her in the face with its poisonous acid, causing her to shriek and collapse into the water.

"…Well, this ain't goin' well," said Snatchel, he and Dulia looking horrified.

The Polluper Blooper finally threw Stubba out of its grip as well, sending him plummeting into the water next to Mario. He tried to stand up, but he was suddenly growing very pale and almost sobbing in pain.

"Mario…" Hanner whimpered, trying to crawl over to them. All three of them were poisoned, and if the Blooper had its way, they wouldn't live long enough to suffer from it.

"NO! We have to help!" Dulia cried out, trying to race over to them only for Snatchel to hold her back.

"Now don't go flyin' off the handle like that! Mario knows what he's doin'." He gazed worriedly out at the plumber. "C'mon, partner…"

Mario's strength was rapidly depleting; he couldn't even get out of the way as he saw the Polluper Blooper towering over them, ready to finish them off. On either side of him, Hanner and Stubba were looking equally helpless.

This couldn't be how it ended. Not like this –

Then he remembered.

"Hanner," he croaked out, "I think it's that time again."

She looked at him, realized what he meant and immediately nodded.

They grabbed hands and shouted, "Second Wind!"

Just like before, a rainbow-colored wind suddenly spawned out of nowhere and rapidly spiraled around the three of them, throwing up the water around them. As it did, Mario felt strength flooding back into his body as the poison dissipated. The wind rose up and finally vanished, and Mario leapt to his feet, completely energized.

"Yeah! That's much better!" Hanner cheered as she and Stubba jumped back into action as well.

Dulia looked astonished, and Snatchel gave her a smile. "Y'see? Mario's got quite a few surprises…"

"Okay, I'm through messing around," Mario decided. He raced up to the Polluper Blooper and hammered its tentacle again, learning from his mistake and jumping backwards before it could snatch him up. Stubba pounded on a different tentacle, and before it could retaliate, Hanner threw her hammer out and struck it in the face. It bellowed in anger and swept Hanner's feet out from under her like it had done to Mario, causing her to yelp and topple over.

"Guys, we've got to work faster! Don't give it room to attack!" Mario ordered. He hammered the Blooper in the tentacle yet again, then gestured to Stubba to do the same. Hanner quickly climbed to her feet and started throwing hammers with all her might.

Mario grinned and saw his plan was working. With all three of them attacking it once, the Polluper Blooper couldn't concentrate and couldn't fight back. And before too long, it had taken more hits than it could handle.

"BLOOooOOooOOoooooo…" it groaned, swaying around for a long moment and looking more dazed than ever.

"Oh no… get back, everybody!" Mario shouted, running backwards before the Blooper finally toppled over into the water. It threw up another enormous splash and drenched Mario's team for the second time (much to their annoyance), and within a moment it had vanished and the water was completely still.

After a long moment had passed and it didn't reappear, the group relaxed a little.

"_Man_, that was gross," Hanner groaned, wringing out her braids. "Glad that's over."

"Yeah, he was _scary._ I – hey! Stop it, Hanner!" Stubba protested, fidgeting violently as she started drying his face off with her sleeve.

Snatchel was looking out at the water, scratching his head and looking thoughtful. "Is it just me, or was that thing actin' kinda strange?"

"You mean _besides _the whole trying-to-kill-us thing?" Goomblaine snapped at him.

"No, he's right," Mario agreed, gazing down into the opaque water where the Blooper had vanished. "It _was _acting strange. It seemed like… I don't know… almost like it couldn't think clearly or something."

"It must've been all that sludge on it," Dulia said sympathetically. "That poor thing… that stuff was probably scrambling its brains. I bet it didn't even know what it was doing."

Mario nodded slowly, lost in thought. "And it _that's _true," he said, "we've got even less time than we thought. If everybody who comes in contact with the water is going to end up like _that…_"

He trailed off, unsure of how to finish. He looked at his partners, and it was clear they all understood the gravity of the situation as well as he did.

"Let's hurry up and go, guys," Hanner said quietly.

Everyone nodded in agreement, and one by one, they jumped over the trench and filed into the tunnel. Mario's heart started pounding as they went farther and father and the light grew dimmer and dimmer… until finally they were swallowed up by the darkness, afraid of what awaited them on the other side…

––––

**A/N: **I hope you're ready for this one, guys. I think Chapter 5 is the most important one so far.


	31. Chapter 5, Part I

**Chapter 5:**

**The Plant and the Factory**

––

_**Trickleback River**_

_**2:00 pm**_

Mario had completely lost track of how long they'd been walking through that tunnel, but finally a distant light appeared at the end. The group hurriedly raced toward it, stepping out of the darkness and back into the outside world.

He sort of wished they hadn't.

They had just come walking out of a large hill on the riverbank, and flowing by right in front of them was the Trickleback River itself – but it was clear that something was wrong with it. It was flowing much more slowly than it should have been, so bogged down was it with poisonous sludge. Its murky greenish-brown color reflected that as well.

"Ugh…" Dulia recoiled at the sight of it. "I had no idea it was this bad…"

"How are we gonna fix _this?_" Stubba asked worriedly.

Mario honestly didn't know. He hadn't been feeling confident before, but seeing the river like this was making him feel even less sure of himself…

"Well, first things first… let's find that factory," he addressed the group. "It can't be too far from here."

So they climbed out of the water and onto the riverbank, beginning the long trek upstream. They traveled mostly in silence, as the sight of the polluted river wasn't really putting them in the mood to talk. Everything in the atmosphere around them seemed to be similarly gloomy – even the sky was cloudy. Mario wondered if the factory didn't somehow have something to do with that.

They didn't have many enemy encounters to worry about, just a bunch of Cheep-Cheeps that would periodically come leaping out of the water in an effort to attack them. Dulia took care of them by Transforming into a Cheep-Cheep herself and squirting them right out of the air, and Snatchel joined in by Lassoing the offending fish and throwing them back where they came from.

As they walked along, the sun stayed in place from behind the clouds. They were traveling directly out of Soluna Town, and for the moment time was staying the same.

But no matter how far they walked, there wasn't a factory to be seen.

"What if that dumb broad messed up, and there _is _no factory?" Goomblaine grumbled after a long while. "What if we've been wanderin' around this dump for nothing?"

"Goomblaine, I'm sure that's not true," Mario said sternly, very much not appreciating his calling Peach a "dumb broad". "Peach knows what she's talking about. It can't be this much farther…"

"Oh, Mario… look over there!" Stubba suddenly piped up.

"Huh?" Mario looked and saw that the Clubba was pointing directly across the river. A bunch of trees had been lining the opposite bank, looking somewhat like a forest. Now, though, Mario thought he could make out a bunch of lights coming from within the trees.

"Whaddaya reckon _that _is?" Snatchel wondered.

"I'm not sure…" Mario squinted his eyes. "Actually… it looks like it could be some kind of village. Maybe we should go have a look."

Goomblaine looked disgusted at the prospect of wasting more time. "_Why?_"

"Because we're tired and grouchy, because we don't know if we're on the right track, and because we don't know _anything _about this factory and we need all the help we can get," the plumber replied shortly. "Now let's go, everybody."

The group crossed over the river by hopping across a bunch of lilypads that were floating lazily in place. As they reached the opposite shore, they started hearing a bunch of faint voices coming from somewhere in the trees, and the lights were brighter than before.

"There _are _people living in here," Hanner realized. "But how come we haven't heard about this place?"

"Come on guys, let's have a look," Mario said quickly, motioning for his partners to follow after him. They spent several minutes walking through the trees, and as they did, Mario began to get a strange feeling. This place wasn't an ordinary forest… it had an unusual, almost _magical _feel to it…

Then they finally arrived at the source of the voices, and Mario stopped dead and stared.

"Wait a minute… what _is _this place?"

_**Viney Valley**_

_**2:00 pm**_

Mario's team looked around in astonishment. You couldn't find a place more unlike Nova City if you tried. This village, as it seemed to be, was absolutely covered in plant life. There wasn't a single building to be seen; all the houses seemed to be enormous tree stumps or mushrooms with doors set into them. Every inch of the ground was covered in grass, and flowers of every imaginable shape, size, and color were springing up all over. The largest were over ten feet tall and towered over Mario and his friends, dripping with dew. The whole place had a sort of dreamy, hazy air.

Appropriately, all the inhabitants of this village were some kind of plant or fungus. There were numerous Goombas and Toads, of course, but there were also a few friendly and docile-looking Piranhas, some Pokeys… and most prominent of all, there were countless Crazee Dayzees.

"Wow…" Dulia said softly, looking as awed as everyone else. "I've never seen _anyplace _like this. It's like from a fairy tale or something."

"Yeah… it's beautiful here," Mario agreed. Then he frowned slightly. "Or at least… it _would _be, except…"

Except everything around them was dying. The grass was withering, the flowers were drying up and losing their brilliant color. Even the trees looked sickly and were starting to drop their leaves. The people living there were no better off. Most of them were walking around looking pale and weak, wearing expressions of despair. Some of them, to Mario's horror, were lying on the ground and appeared to be unconscious.

"What's going on here?" Mario cried out.

"Oh… hello there," came a tired voice, and the team turned around to find a Toad walking up to them. "I never thought we'd get any visitors in a place like this. Welcome to Viney Valley… or at least, as much welcome as can be found."

"Viney Valley… I've never heard of this place," Hanner remarked. "Rodolfo didn't even mention it. Does he not even know about it?"

"Well, we are a well-kept secret," the Toad admitted with a shrug. "Hardly anybody knows about us, actually. We tend to live apart from the rest of the world. It's always been fine for us… until recently."

"Yeah, I can see that," said Mario, glancing around again and getting a chill. "What's happening to you guys? Why does everybody look so sick?"

"It's that river, ain't it," Snatchel said darkly. "These fellers are gettin' poisoned from the river. And since they live right next to it, it's messin' 'em up _bad._"

The Toad blinked. "Wait a minute – how'd you know about that?"

"It's happening in Soluna Town," Dulia replied morosely. "All the water there is getting poisoned too. Nobody can drink it anymore. It's awful."

"We came here to do something about it," Mario went on. "We're looking for the Poisoned Factory – that's what's polluting the river, isn't it?"

The Toad looked at the group in astonishment. "You really came here for that?" he asked. "I… I don't know if that's a wise idea. That factory… going in there is a death wish. It's so toxic in there, you couldn't possibly last."

Mario tried not to look uneasy. "Well, we've got to try anyway. If we don't, everybody in Chronoside is going to be in danger."

The Toad frowned reluctantly. "Well, if that's the case… you'd better come talk to the mayor. He knows best about what's going on around here… he can give you advice."

"That'd be great. Can you take us to him?"

"If that's what you really want… follow me."

So the group set off after him as they walked through Viney Valley. Mario almost started feeling sick just from looking around; the very village was wasting away before their eyes. There wasn't a happy face to be seen.

"There's so many people here… and they're all so sick," Stubba whispered, looking mortified. Mario nodded in agreement. In particular, he'd never seen so many Crazee Dayzees in one place. Most of the ones he'd seen were white, but the ones living here had petals in every color of the rainbow. Reds, blues and yellows cropped up all over. Of course, if they hadn't all been looking so sickly, it probably would have been a prettier sight.

"…This is gonna sound stupid," Hanner muttered after they'd been walking for a while, "but I don't like seeing all these Dayzees. They kinda… they remind me of her."

"Who?" Mario asked, then grimaced at his own stupidity. "Oh… you mean Maizee…"

Clearly he hadn't been speaking quietly enough. The Toad stopped dead and spun around, staring at them in horror.

"You – you _know Maizee?_" he cried, causing several people nearby to turn and look at him. "You mean you've actually met her?"

"A few more times than we'd like, yeah. Why?" asked the plumber. Then he frowned in confusion. "Wait… how do _you _know about her?"

"We know about her because she used to live here," came another voice from behind them. "This was her home."

Mario's team turned around in time to see a well-dressed Bub-ulb come walking out of a nearby mushroom-building. Because of his rotund body he couldn't wear an actual suit, but he did have a white collar on and had a tiny little flower where his lapel would have been – which was somewhat redundant, as he had a very large, dark blue flower growing out of his head. He was also wearing a brown pork pie hat, which had a hole in the top so the flower could stick out of it.

"Fidela, who are these friends of yours?" he asked curiously, then noticed the group regarding him carefully. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I'm the mayor. Mayor Bulbin. It's a pleasure to meet all of you."

"Good to meet you too," Mario said respectfully. His partners nodded.

"Mr. Mayor, I brought these people here to meet you," the Toad (or Fidela T., as his name seemed to be) spoke up. "They say they want to go to the Poisoned Factory."

Bulbin turned to stare at Mario. "Why on earth do you want to do something like _that? _Don't you know about that place? It's too dangerous!"

"We know it is. But we have a job to shut it down. There's something we need to rescue from that place." Mario tried to steer back to the original topic, the one that was nagging incessantly at him. "Excuse me sir, but… you say Maizee used to _live _here? Can you possibly tell us anything about her?"

Bulbin and Fidela both glanced warily at each other, wearing deep frowns and looking very reluctant to speak.

"Yes, I can," the mayor finally sighed. "You'd better all come inside. You too, Fidela. This is going to take a while."

––

The thing that came closest to describing the mayor's office was a treehouse, perched high up in the branches of a majestic willow tree. In order to get there, Mario's party had to ascend a huge, snaking vine, hopping up the large leaves that functioned as the steps of a spiral staircase. From there they walked across a rickety wooden bridge, which gave them a view of almost the entire village. The bridge led them up to the front porch of the surprisingly well-built treehouse, and then the entire group crowded their way inside.

"Oh, _hiiiiiii_, Mr. Mayor!" greeted a Dayzee with bright pink petals who was already standing in the room. "Oh, you brought friends! That's totally swell! Can I get you guys anything?"

"No, that's quite all right," Bulbin replied curtly. "Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to my secretary, Pollena."

"Hello there!" she chirruped, waving eagerly at Mario's group. They very awkwardly waved back.

"Ahem… Pollena, why don't you wait over there for now. I'm having an important discussion with our guests," said the mayor, trying to sound polite. She nodded and pranced off to another part of the room.

Bulbin carefully seated himself down into one of the chairs. "So, Maizee…" he sighed. He looked intensely weighed down with knowledge he would rather not have. "Well, if you're interested in the factory, you'd better know the whole story. You see… Maizee is the one running that factory. She's the reason the river has been poisoned."

Everyone was shocked into silence.

"But – but – _how? Why?_" Hanner finally sputtered out.

"It's simple, actually. You see, Crazee Dayzees, being flowers, are a very vain and self-absorbed species."

Mario glanced over at Pollena, who was currently fawning over her reflection in a hand mirror. "Yeah, I can believe that."

"Well, she was worse than any of them," Bulbin went on. "Even before all this started, she was notoriously power-hungry. She wanted to control all of Viney Valley – no, I'd say all of Chronoside. She has quite the complex."

"That sounds like her," Mario grumbled.

"But what does the factory gotta do with all that?" asked Snatchel.

"Well, in her quest for power, it wasn't long until she discovered that factory," the mayor recounted. "None of us know who built it, or how long it's been there, but for as long as we can remember it's been abandoned. Until she got in there. She started the whole place up, and she learned some truly shocking things…"

"Ooh! Ooh! Are you talking about Maizee?" Pollena asked urgently, dashing over to join the group. "Did you tell them about how she's doing all those experiments with the poisonous stuff?"

Mario stared at her. "Wait… _what?_"

"Pollena, _please,_" the mayor said shortly, then turned back to Mario. "Well, unfortunately, she's right. Maizee's been experimenting with the poisonous chemicals in that factory. The very ones that are being spewed into our precious river. You see, she found out… ingesting that poison will not always be fatal. If it's done the right way, it can actually make a person stronger, and imbue them with poisonous powers and abilities."

The group looked horrified. "You're joking," said Mario.

"Oh man, I _wish_," Fidela sighed miserably. "No, it's definitely true. We've seen it ourselves, with those three guinea pigs of hers. The ones she's been doing the experiments on…"

"Wait – you mean those _Piranhas? _Those things she's always carting around?" Goomblaine protested.

"The very same," Bulbin confirmed with a nod. "They weren't even Putrid Piranhas to start with. They were normal ones. But Maizee got her hands on them and wanted to see just how powerful this poison could make them… she's been giving it to them ever since, and they've been getting stronger and stronger…"

Goomblaine shook his head. "I _knew _those freaks were way too strong to be normal," he grumbled.

"But it's not all good for them," Bulbin pressed on. "For even though the poison may make a person more powerful, there are… very serious repercussions."

"You lose your mind," Mario guessed, thinking back to the Polluper Blooper.

Bulbin nodded morosely. "She's been trying to figure out a way to eliminate this problem… a way for the poison to give person the increase in power without the mental decay."

"And we think… once she's done that…" Fidela ventured, swallowing hard before going on. "She could make an army. An unstoppable one. There's no telling what she could do with something like that."

No one spoke for a moment. There seemed to be a tremendous weight pressing down on everyone in the room.

"How do you guys _know _all this?" Mario finally asked.

"It's no secret," Bulbin said frankly. "She doesn't care who knows… it's not like there's anything we can do to stop her." He gazed despondently at the floor. "After all, that poison had the lovely little side effect of getting into our river and diseasing all of Viney Valley… and if what you've told me is true, then the rest of Chronoside will follow soon after."

Stubba was starting to look very upset. "But… but how come nobody's _stopped _her?"

"Oh, we've tried," Fidela promised him. "People tried to go to that factory and confront her… and they never came back out. She's just too strong for us."

Mario still wasn't satisfied. "So why don't you all just _leave?_"

"We can't," Bulbin said simply. "Nowhere else in Chronoside has enough plant life to sustain all of us… and besides, we're all too weak to make the journey at this point."

"If we stay, we'll die… if we leave, we'll die…" Fidela shook his head, looking almost overcome with hopelessness. "Oh, _what _are we supposed to do?"

Suddenly Pollena's eyes lit up. "Wait – I know!" she cried. "We should take Viney Valley… and PUSH it somewhere else!"

Everyone stared at her.

"…Or, y'know, we could just go shut down the factory for you," Hanner spoke up after a moment.

Bulbin frowned. "You're still entertaining that idea? Even now that you know what's at risk?"

Dulia nodded dutifully. "We're heroes. It's what we do. We've gotta help you guys out somehow." Goomblaine just rolled his eyes, obviously not agreeing with her sentiment.

Mario was nodding as well, and he was about to assure Bulbin that they would do everything in their power to put a stop to this…

But then he remembered it. All the color drained from his face.

"Wait… oh no…" He looked at his partners in horror. "Guys… Peach said that the Sun Soul is in that factory… and Maizee…" He swallowed. "That means she must have it."

They all stared back at him.

"Oh, no," Hanner groaned, looking horrified to realize Mario was right. "This is bad… this is bad bad bad… she's been hounding us for those things, and she had one all along?"

"Excuse me? Did you say Sun Souls?" asked Bulbin.

Mario turned to him. "Yeah… we've been collecting them, and Maizee wants them for herself. We never found out why, though…"

"I might be able to answer that," the mayor said glumly. "These Sun Souls… they're very powerful, aren't they?"

"They're about the most powerful things in the world right now," the plumber confirmed.

Bulbin nodded thoughtfully. "We've heard her talk about those things," he explained. "We don't know what they are exactly, but it sounds like she wants to use them for a power source. Some way to keep the factory running indefinitely, so that it never runs out of energy."

"_Never?_" cried Dulia. "But that's impossible!"

"I highly doubt that," Bulbin sighed. "And if she actually managed to do it… well, I don't want to think about that."

Mario felt all his energy draining out of him as he was confronted with this terrible truth. "That explains it," he said simply, hopelessly, collapsing back in his chair. "That explains why she's been following us. That explains everything."

"Well, that tears it," Snatchel decided, jumping to his feet and looking very dangerous indeed. "We ain't wastin' another minute hangin' out around here. We're goin' over to that factory and endin' this nonsense once and fer all! I don't care how strong this gal thinks she is, she's goin' down!"

"You're right," Mario agreed firmly, standing up as well. "We finally know what she's been after all this time… and it's worse than we ever thought. We have to stop her before it's too late."

Bulbin shook his head. "I see you're not going back on this," he remarked. "Well, if you're certain about this… first of all, you have to get _inside _the factory. As you probably know, it's at the source of the river. It's situated at the very top of a waterfall, in the center of a large lake."

Goomblaine frowned. "What? We gotta go climb up a _waterfall?_"

"It's not as bad as it sounds. There's a key that'll open up the waterfall for you," Fidela spoke up. "But to get it, you have to defeat the creature that was set up to protect it. Though that shouldn't be too hard for a group of adventurers like you guys."

"You'll find the key by following the path at the very back of the village," Bulbin clarified. "Once you have it, just bring it to the waterfall… you should be able to figure it out from there."

––

With that, Bulbin led Mario's party out of the treehouse and back down to the main area of Viney Valley. As they arrived, Mario noticed a small, narrow trail at the very back of the village that seemed to lead away to some unknown location. The ground on this trail was covered in small mushrooms.

"That's the way to the Leaf Stone – the key you need for the waterfall," the mayor explained to him as he led everyone up to it. "Although… you might have a little trouble getting there. We've been having a small issue…"

"Of course you have," Goomblaine muttered contemptuously.

"You see, the path branches off multiple times. There's only one right path that will take you to the Leaf Stone. It's actually quite strange…" He frowned, looking thoughtful. "I think we used to have a way of navigating through there… but nowadays, it seems none of us can remember it anymore."

Mario raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm sorry. I know it makes no sense." Bulbin shook his head. "It had something to do with all those mushrooms on the ground, though. That's all I can tell you."

"Hmm…" Mario thought about this. "That's all right. Don't worry about it, sir…"

He trailed off. Something had suddenly caught his attention from the corner of his eye, and he felt his gaze slowly traveling over.

There was a young Crazee Dayzee lying against a tree, looking feverish and near death. The poor thing was just a kid, probably only Dulia's age, if even that. His pale violet petals were wilting and drooping, and his face was deathly pale. Even in his unconscious state, he looked anguished.

"Mario? What's wrong?" asked Hanner.

He couldn't even answer that. He didn't know why this particular one had caught his attention; there were sick Dayzees all over. Still, as he slowly walked up to him, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something important about him…

"Who… who is this?" he asked Bulbin.

"Him?" the mayor looked down at the little Dayzee. "He's just a child who lives here. His name is Daymien, I think. Why do you ask?"

"Daymien…" Mario crouched down and touched the comatose Dayzee on the forehead, frowning in sympathy. "I… I don't know. I was just curious. Sorry."

"It's awful, isn't it," Fidela remarked. "Not even the kids are safe around here. I never thought things would get so bad in a place like Viney Valley."

"He's badly poisoned," Bulbin sighed. "Just leave him, Mario. Not even the most potent Tasty Tonic is going to help him in this condition."

Mario kept gazing down at Daymien in concern, only reluctantly standing back up.

"All right… I guess we'd better get going," he muttered. "Thank you so much for everything, sir."

Bulbin gave him a nod and led Fidela away.

"What the heck was _that _all about?" Goomblaine hissed at him once they were out of earshot.

"I… I'm not sure…" Mario tried to get his thoughts together. "I just… oh, forget it. It's probably nothing." He straightened himself out. "Okay. You guys heard what Bulbin said? They used to use the mushrooms to guide them through that trail."

"Yeah… they _used _to, but they can't remember how anymore." Dulia cocked her head in confusion. "What d'you suppose he meant by _that?_"

"Actually, I've got a pretty good guess," Mario replied, leading his team back over to the entrance to the trail. "I actually recognized those mushrooms. They're very special ones."

He pulled out the Aeon Hourglass with a smile. "They glow in the dark."

As his partners' faces lit up in comprehension, Mario tipped the hourglass over and transported them away.

––

_**Viney Valley**_

_**2:00 am**_

Mario quickly decided that he much preferred Viney Valley at night. In the darkness, it was harder to see that all the plants were dying and withering. The atmosphere was also livened up a little by a bunch of small lights, like will-o'-the-wisps, floating in the air around their heads.

It pained Mario so much to see how beautiful this place was, and how much it was suffering. He couldn't let this place die.

"Woah… you're _right_, Mario!" Stubba marveled, and Mario turned to see what he was looking at. He smiled; just like he'd thought, the mushrooms on the ground were giving off a pale green, bioluminescent glow.

"I knew it," he said confidently. "All we have to do is follow the mushrooms, guys. They'll lead us to the right place."

"All right then! Let's get crackin'!" said Snatchel, and the group immediately set off down the path.

Before they left, though, Mario suddenly felt a nagging feeling inside of him. Before he could stop himself, he quickly glanced over his shoulder at the large tree, where Daymien had been lying back in Dayside.

There was no one there…

––

The group walked down the narrow path, and sure enough, it branched off into three different trails almost immediately. But the glowing mushrooms were illuminating what they took to be the correct path, and so they followed it. This happened several more times, and along the way Mario noticed a glowing group of sparkles in the air and promptly added another Luma to his collection.

Finally the party arrived at a dead end, walking into a small clearing. There was nothing in it save for a large, nondescript bush right in the middle.

"Uh… isn't there supposed to be someone here we're supposed to fight?" Mario wondered, looking around. "Hello? Is there anybody here?"

In response, there suddenly came a ruffling sound from the bush. Its leaves and branches were shaking slightly… and then, suddenly, a voice came out of it.

"Yo. Wassup. I'm Bushwhack. What can I do ya for."

Mario blinked. "Wait… are _you_ the guy we have to fight?"

The bush momentarily stopped shuffling. "Huh? You just came here to fight?" It sounded disappointed. "Well, that's just typical. I guess you guys just came here lookin' for the Leaf Stone, huh?"

"Uh… I…"

"I shoulda guessed. That's all anybody ever comes here for," it grumbled. "Nobody ever drops by to say hi to ol' Bushwhack. Nobody asks how Bushwhack is doin'. Nope. It's all fight fight fight, every time."

Mario was at a loss for words. His partners were looking very confused.

"Uh… I'm sorry?" the plumber said lamely. "Really, I didn't know you felt that way."

"Ah, what do I care," snapped the plant known as Bushwhack. "Whatever. If it's a fight you want, let's just it over with."

And then, suddenly, the oversized bush turned a hundred and eighty degrees… revealing a demonic-looking face on the other side. Then it began shaking violently, and two arm-like branches shot out of either side of it, each one tipped with a smaller bush.

"Okay! Let's boogie!" it shouted, waving its arms around crazily and jumping at Mario. He and his partners immediately leapt into battle stances.

"All right, this freak's called Bushwhack. But you knew that already," Goomblaine muttered as he used Tattle. "It's the thing that's guarding the Leaf Stone. Nothin' fancy here. All it can do is jump on us or smack us around with those big arms."

"Sounds good," said Mario. He quickly jumped backwards as Bushwhack came charging at him, swinging its arms. As he tried to get away, Stubba ran forward and performed a Club attack on it, and Dulia slammed into it with her Head Missile, knocking it off to the side.

"Oh, of course," it sniffed at them. "You're fighting six against one. Totally uncool, guys."

"Oh, just cram it already!" Goomblaine snarled, immediately running up and Multibonking it. Bushwhack retaliated by smacking him with one of its arms and sending him flying.

"You know, you're really not very nice," Mario remarked as he prepared to Power Smash the bush over the head. But before he could, Bushwhack caught him by surprise and swept his feet out from underneath him. He cried out and toppled to the ground.

"YAAAAAH!" Bushwhack bellowed, jumping high into the air in an attempt to flatten Mario. Luckily, Snatchel roped him in with Roundup and yanked him to the ground before he got the chance, and then Mario rushed up and delivered a whack with his hammer.

"Man, what is with you guys?" Bushwhack demanded. "Don't you wonder how _I _feel about all this? No, of course you don't! Nobody ever asks Bushwhack how he feels! I'm just dumb old plant waiting around to be – "

"WE GET IT!" shouted Mario's entire team. Bushwhack just scowled and threw itself at Mario again, tackling the plumber to the ground and knocking the wind out of him. Mario gasped and curled up in pain.

"I'll teach you!" it shouted, backing up and charging at the downed plumber. It let out a furious cry and threw itself into the air – only to slam into a shimmering pink force field that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Mario blinked, realizing that the force field was encasing him in a sphere. "What the – "

"HEY! You cheater!" Bushwhack shouted at Dulia, who had just created a Plasma Shield to protect Mario. "You can't do that! That's totally cheap!"

"Oh, sorry," said Dulia, looking guilty.

Goomblaine stared at her incredulously. "Don't _apologize _to that thing!"

"Huh? …Oh, right! I'm _not _sorry!" she snapped, glaring at Bushwhack.

The bush looked exasperated. "GAH! You're all a bunch of idiots!" it screamed. It dashed right at them, but they easily sidestepped it. Then all it took was one good Spin Jump from Mario, and it let out a defeated groan and toppled over to the ground.

"All right! Nice job, everybody!" Mario congratulated his team.

"Yeah, yeah, whoop de doo. Congratulations," the surly bush muttered. "Here. Take your stupid Leaf Stone and go."

It reached into itself and pulled out a large, polished gem that was colored a majestic dark blue and carved in the shape of a leaf, dumping it unceremoniously into Mario's hands.

"Now go on and get," it ordered. "Oh, and tell everybody back in the village how I'm doin'. If they ask, that is. Which they won't. Of course."

And with that, it retracted its arms back into its body and turned around, thumping down on the ground and regaining its semblance of a plain old bush.

"…Well, he was a real charmer," said Hanner.

––

After that, the group set off back down the trail, going back the way they'd come and following the glowing mushrooms just as they'd done before. Nobody said anything most of the way, but eventually, Hanner broke the silence.

"So, Mario… you _sure _you don't want to tell us what was up with you and that kid?"

Mario stopped walking. "What?"

"Yeah, you seemed mighty interested in him," Snatchel remarked.

Mario saw all his partners giving him curious looks and finally sighed in defeat.

"I… I honestly don't know what happened back there, guys. But I looked at him, and I got this feeling… you don't remember seeing him here in Nightside, do you?"

His partners looked surprised at the question.

"Well, not really… but maybe he was there, and we just didn't notice…" Hanner looked at him strangely. "Why, Mario? You… you think maybe _he's_…"

"I don't know. Like I said… it was just a weird feeling. Maybe it's nothing," Mario replied softly. "Come on, guys, we should get going."

They walked quickly along the rest of the way, without saying anything else to each other. As they began to approach the village again, however, Dulia suddenly froze up.

"Do you guys hear that?" she whispered. "It sounds like… I hear screaming! And it's coming from the village!"

Mario looked at her in fright. "What?"

"Yeah! I hear it too!" Stubba realized.

"Oh no…" Mario shook his head. "Come on everybody, we have to run!"

They dashed down the path as fast as they could, and sure enough, without moments Mario heard the screaming as well, which just made him put on an extra burst of speed.

He was afraid, and at the same time, exasperated… why did some disaster have to follow them everywhere they went?

Finally they came bursting back into the main area of the village, and they all stared in horror.

The village was in an uproar. Everyone in Viney Valley who wasn't too sick to move was running around frantically, shrieking in terror and desperately looking for a hiding spot to protect them from the intruders that were suddenly in their midst.

The only one who wasn't running was Bulbin. He had fallen to the ground and was now staring up in horror and trying to scramble away from the three very large, very deadly-looking Putrid Piranhas that were towering over him.

"No…" Mario whispered, feeling his blood run cold. "Not again… not now…"

Standing on the head of the center Piranha was an all-too-familiar purple Dayzee.

"What – what do you want with me?" Bulbin almost screamed, sounding hysterical. "Please, have mercy – leave this village alone! Why won't you listen to reason?"

Maizee was glaring down at him, and Mario thought he'd never seen her so angry. Her expression was one of unbridled hatred.

"I'm tired of you getting in my way," she said to Bulbin through tightly clenched teeth. "If I get rid of you, then the rest of Viney Valley will follow. You've impeded me for the last time."

And just like that, the Piranha on the right lunged forward and grabbed Bulbin in its huge mouth. His scream was cut short as the Piranha burrowed underground and vanished.

Chaos broke loose.

"NO!"

"THE MAYOR! SHE'S GOT THE MAYOR!"

"_Hey! You let him go!_"

Mario was surprised by his own voice. He was surprised to find that he was charging directly towards the Piranhas, not even thinking of how strong they were and how futile it was and how he'd probably have his game ended in an instant…

But Maizee didn't attack him. As he ran at her, all she did was glance down at him and say, "If you want him, come and get him."

And the remaining Piranhas vanished back underground, taking her down with them. Mario threw himself at them, but they disappeared an instant too soon and he thudded painfully onto the hard ground.

"No…" he muttered, clenching his fists and trying to ignore the still-panicking citizens all around him. "_No…_"

"What's going on here?" cried Fidela T., running up to Mario. "Who are you? What are you doing in Viney Valley?"

"It was him! He must have sent Maizee after the mayor!" a female Dayzee shrieked hysterically.

"Oh just shut your yaps, would ya?" Snatchel demanded, asserting his authority and trying to regain control. "We got nothin' to do with her! We've been tryin' to fight her too! Now if you want yer mayor back, you can start bein' useful and tell us where she took 'im!"

"She must have brought him to the factory… that's where her base of operations is," Fidela moaned, clutching at his head. "I never thought this would happen… she actually took him away from us… we really are doomed."

"Hey! Don't say that!" Mario snapped at him. "Don't tell me you're going to give up just like that! Now look! If we hurry and get over to that factory right now, we still have a chance to save him!"

"What? Mario, _think _about this!" Hanner protested. "What if she only kidnapped him because she knew we'd go after him? What if she's just luring us into a trap?"

Mario shook his head. "It doesn't matter. We have to go to the factory one way or another. This doesn't change anything. And if she thinks she's going to stop us, then she's wrong."

Mario clenched his fists, feeling his resolve and determination build up like nothing he'd ever experienced before. He glanced at his partners, and they stared at the serious look on his face.

"This is it, everybody. We're going to that factory… we're stopping her, and we're getting that Sun Soul. And we're ending this once and for all."

––––

**A/N: **Uh, okay guys… I swear when I decided the story of this chapter was "Plants getting sick from polluted water", I was _not even thinking _of Super Paper Mario. (Except maybe subliminally). All I can say is… eerie coincidence? Anyway, the Chapter 5's from the first two games are freakishly similar, so I'm just following the pattern.

Also, if you want an idea of what the background music for Viney Valley would be like, go listen to Schala's Theme from Chrono Trigger. That game is ace. :3


	32. Chapter 5, Part II

**A/N: **I've been waiting a very, very long time to get to this part of the story.

––––

_**Trickleback River**_

_**2:57 am**_

Mario's team had left Viney Valley behind, praying it wouldn't fall to pieces while they were gone, and had raced up the river as fast as they could. As they followed it, it bent to the southeast and time began moving forward once again.

Finally they arrived at the source of the river, approaching the large waterfall that Bulbin had mentioned. It was tall enough that they couldn't see what was waiting for them at the top, and it sprayed mist in their faces as they stared up at it.

"Well… here we are," Mario shouted over the roar of the falls. "Now what do we do?"

"We gotta put the Leaf Stone somewhere," Hanner reminded him, looking around for a place that seemed appropriate. "Oh, look here, Mario!"

She pointed over at a large boulder that had a square indentation carved into it. It looked just big enough to fit the blue stone.

"All right… here goes nothing," said Mario, walking up to it and placing the Leaf Stone inside.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then suddenly, the boulder began to rumble and turned around so that the Leaf Stone was no longer facing them…

…and then the entire _ground _began to rumble.

"Eep! What's going on?" Dulia cried out, flailing her arms to keep from falling over. Goomblaine actually did fall over, having no arms to balance with, and Hanner and Stubba quickly grabbed onto each other to steady themselves.

The rumbling was getting stronger, and Mario was starting to get frightened – but then he looked up at the waterfall and saw what was happening.

The flow of water was slowly parting down the middle, revealing what appeared to be a dark stone staircase directly behind it. As it did that, the water was also slowing down drastically.

Finally the rumbling stopped, and the waterfall was nothing but a modest trickle flowing down either side of the massive staircase.

The team stared up at it. It ascended into complete darkness.

"Who's going first?" Mario offered.

"I'll go!" Stubba immediately spoke up, trying to look heroic. "C'mon Hanner, let's go save everybody!"

"You said it, little guy," she agreed as they both raced up the stairs. The rest of the party quickly followed after them.

For about a minute they were walking in total darkness. Mario couldn't see a thing, and he nearly tripped or stubbed his toe on the stone steps numerous times. As they drew closer to the top, he felt himself getting more and more nervous…

…and then finally they came out of the darkness and saw their destination for the first time.

The staircase had led them up to a narrow stone pathway that stretched across a large lake. That was all Mario could say for sure. He couldn't make out any features of the lake or the surrounding land, because everything was being drowned out by the blinding lights coming from the Poisoned Factory.

It was an absolutely enormous, metallic building sitting on an island in the middle of the lake. It was several stories high but didn't have a single window anywhere. Dozens of huge pipes extended from its outer walls and snaked down into the lake, and a pair of gigantic smokestacks in its center stretched up into the air, spewing out a cloud of suffocating, noxious fumes. The entire building was surrounded in a nimbus of smoke.

Circling the factory was a ring of lights mounted on fifty-foot-high poles. Aside from illuminating the surrounding area, the sickly artificial light refracted off the smoke surrounding the factory, lighting up the air around it almost as brightly as dawn. There was also a pair of searchlights moving back and forth across the sky. In short, it was completely impossible to sneak inside.

For a very long moment, Mario's team did nothing but stare.

"…I'm trying to think of something to say to lighten the mood, but I got nothing," Hanner finally admitted.

"Dangit, would ya look at that? This place is _huge!_" Snatchel cried.

"Yeah, and it smells bad," Stubba complained, holding his nose. They could smell the toxic fumes from here.

"Bulbin wasn't lying, was he… this isn't going to be easy," Mario muttered. He winced as he remembered that the Bub-ulb was being held somewhere in there at this very moment. "Well guys, there's no turning back now… let's do this."

Slowly and nervously, the gang of adventurers walked across the stone bridge and approached the factory. As they got closer, Mario suddenly realized that there were a bunch of Poison Puffs floating back and forth in front of the entrance, looking like guards on patrol. The group jerked to a stop as they saw them.

"Great. Now what? They're gonna waste us if they see us," Goomblaine complained.

"Oh, that's no problem," Dulia assured them with a giggle. "Everybody hold still. It's time for some undercover work."

The rest of the group realized what her plan was and obligingly crowded around her. She concentrated hard, focusing her attention on the Poison Puff floating nearest to them. Then, one by one, she put a hand on her teammates and transformed each one of them into an exact replica of the Puff before finally transforming herself. Before long they were a group of six green clouds floating idly in front of the factory.

"Woaaaaaaah! This is _neat!_" Stubba cheered, zooming around in his cloud form. "Dulia, you have the coolest power EVER!"

"Stubba, come on. We have to concentrate," Mario reminded him, and the not-Clubba quickly zoomed back to the group as they all floated up to the entrance. Thankfully, the other Puffs didn't even turn to look at them as they passed by.

"All right… here we go," said Mario as they all parked in front of the double doors leading inside. Mario nudged one of them open, and one by one they floated in…

––

_**Poisoned Factory**_

_**3:00 am**_

The minute they were safely inside, Dulia led them all over to a corner and dispelled their transformations, turning them back to normal.

"Thanks, Dulia. You're the greatest," Mario said approvingly, and she beamed at his praise.

"Yeah, we sure coulda used you gettin' to Mustard Mines," Snatchel said fondly. "…So, what now?"

The group quickly looked around at their surroundings. They were in the central area of the factory, with multiple doors and hallways branching off of it. The ceiling was covered with rows of fluorescent lights and crisscrossing metal beams, though even with the lights, the omnipresent cloud of fumes meant it was dark and difficult to see.

In front of them was a massive maze of hydraulic presses and running conveyor belts. Hissing and clanking noises filled the air, and thick poisonous sludge was dripping off of almost every possible surface. A twisting array of pipes ran over their heads and along the walls, pumping more of the poison from one area to the next.

And of course, the smell was worse than ever.

This was the most dangerous place the group had ever been in. They could hardly stand how _wrong _it felt in here, how much this place shouldn't exist, how many people were dying because of it…

"Well, I don't see anybody around here," Mario finally remarked, trying to focus. "I wonder where Maizee's hiding…"

"She's probably up on the top floor," Hanner said glumly, peering up. Mario looked and saw that there were four stories to the building, although in this area of the factory, the upper floors were only metal walkways that circled the periphery of the main room, with doors leading to different areas.

"Well, guess that means we'd better look for a way to the top," Mario decided. "Come on guys, let's go look for some stairs."

And so they set off. The first thing they had to do was navigate through the huge main area, weaving their way back and forth through the hydraulic presses as they looked for a way up. They opened all the doors they found, but at first they all led to dead ends.

There were an astounding number of enemies in the factory… and unsurprisingly, all of them were of the poisonous variety. There were Poison Puffs, Poison Pokeys, and even poisonous versions of species he'd never seen before, such as Piders. These enemies made the group's already-unpleasant excursion positively grueling; Mario lost count of the number of times he or his partners got poisoned. Their supply of Tasty Tonics was rapidly dwindling; what was going to happen when they ran out?

Finally they entered a hallway and found the staircase they were looking for, but they all deflated when they saw it. There was an electric force field right in front of it, preventing them from getting up.

"Hmm… how do we turn this thing off?" Mario wondered.

"Well, look here," Dulia observed, looking at a control panel on the wall. "There's a slot here! I bet if we found the Card Key that goes here, we could shut it off."

So they continued exploring the bottom floor, looking for anything that resembled a Card Key. Finally they entered a room they hadn't explored yet – only to recoil in fear at what they saw.

"What the heck's going on? This place is flooding!" Goomblaine protested. Sure enough, the floor of the room was completely covered in poisonous, murky water. There was definitely no way they could cross that safely.

"Well, there's the Card Key," Mario realized, noticing the key sitting on a ledge across from them. "But we can't reach it from all the way over there! How are we supposed to – "

He broke off as he saw Snatchel folding his arms and tapping his foot, raising an eyebrow at him. "…Oh, right."

After Snatchel had gotten the key for them, they returned to the room with the staircase. Mario swiped the key through the slot, and just as they'd hoped, the electric forced briefly flickered before it vanished.

"All right! Terrific!" Mario cheered as the group dashed up the stairs. "One down, two to go!"

When they reached the second floor, they had to plow their way through several dank, enemy-filled rooms before they found where they needed to go. The smog was getting thicker the further up they went, and so, it seemed, the Poison Puffs were getting more numerous. Sometimes the only thing they could do was have Dulia Transform into one and blow them all away.

Eventually, they found themselves staring straight across a huge room at a door that was standing clear at the opposite end. There was no way to get across, only a drop that led back to the bottom floor.

"Well, sorry Mario, but I can't reach _that _far," said Snatchel. "Huh, it's kind of a shame we can't just turn into paper airplanes, ain't it?"

Mario blinked in surprise. "What? …Oh, yeah. No, that'd just be silly."

"Hmm… this looks like a job for me and my hammer of justice!" Hanner said knowingly. Sure enough, they quickly noticed a "!" switch that was just within throwing distance, and Hanner threw her hammer out and struck it dead on. All of a sudden, a metal catwalk began unfolding, paper accordion style, across the room, leading them directly over to the door. As they walked through, they found themselves in a tiny room holding nothing but the Card Key.

"I told ya," Hanner said with a grin, winking at Goomblaine. He did nothing but glare at her.

They headed back to the staircase and deactivated the force field, heading up to the third floor. Now the fumes were almost unbearably thick. Poor Stubba doubled over coughing a few times, and Mario had to give him a Tasty Tonic just to make sure he didn't keel over.

After checking all the doors and finally finding where they were supposed to go, the group had to navigate through another maze of conveyor belts, though Mario took the time to rescue a Pretty Lucky Badge from atop one of them. When they finally reached the end, he had to use his Super Hammer to destroy a big yellow block sticking out of the wall. The short hallway on the other side led over to a ledge where the Card Key was waiting for them.

"Well, here we are," Hanner remarked once they arrived at the third and final staircase. "This one goes up to the top floor… you really think Maizee's up there, Mario?"

Mario shrugged. "She has to be… we've looked all over this place and haven't seen her yet. She must be up there."

For a moment, the group just stood where it was, reluctant to move.

"I guess that means we'd better get ready for a fight, huh?" Dulia said softly.

"I reckon so," Snatchel agreed.

Mario nodded slowly. "We've made it this far, you guys. I know we can do this. Everybody in Viney Valley is counting on us."

"_I'm _not scared, Mario," Stubba said loyally. Mario could only give him a weak smile.

As they walked up this final set of stairs, Mario felt himself starting to sweat as his heart beat faster and faster. This was it… Maizee was waiting for them up here, he was sure of it. Every moment brought them closer and closer to her… and now there was no going back.

––

When the group got to the top floor, they found there was only a single door. They walked through and entered a small, low-lit room with a metal grate for a floor. There was nothing in the room except for another door at the far end, but there was an air of anticipation that was making Mario's hair stand on end. Somehow, he could tell there was something here…

"Okay, we made it all the way up here and there's nothing in here! _Now _what do we do?" Goomblaine griped.

"I don't know, but I think we're getting close."

Mario was about to take another step when a powerful and very familiar rumbling in the ground made him wince and freeze.

"Check that. I _know _we're getting close."

"But… wait a second! We're standing on _metal!_" Hanner protested as they all fearfully edged together, realizing what was about to happen. "They couldn't possibly… could they…?"

They could. The three Putrid Piranhas literally came bursting out of the floor, ripping through the metal grate and sending pieces of shrapnel flying. Mario paled at the sight of them. They were even bigger than they'd been when they were attacking Viney Valley; with one notable exception, they were now the hugest Piranha Plants he'd ever seen.

…Except they could hardly even be called Piranha Plants anymore. The crown of leaves around their heads had grown huge and razor sharp, as had the poisonous thorns covering their stems. Their leaves were dark green and sickly, dragging uselessly on the ground. Their heads were so large and weighed down that they stood in slouches, hunched over and unable to even move properly.

Mario was expecting them to say something, but they didn't. All they did was growl and snarl in primal voices, purple slobber dribbling from their jaws. Their heads swayed back and forth, and they seemed unable to focus their attention on any one thing.

"What's… what's _wrong _with them?" Dulia whispered in horror.

"It's the poison. Maizee gave them too much of it," Mario realized. "They've lost it."

The center Piranha opened its mouth and let out an earsplitting roar, causing the entire party to flinch and stare at it in fear. Even without words, its message was clear: Maizee was beyond that door, and they were the last line of defense. Mario wasn't getting to her without getting through them.

"All right guys, no more messing around. This is _it_," the plumber said determinedly. "We're beating these guys for good this time! Let's go!"

His partners all nodded and charged forward along with him, and their final battle against the Piranhas began.

The very first thing Mario did was whip out a Fire Flower. He'd suspected that they'd be confronting the Piranhas at some point in this factory, and it looked like he'd been right. He held the Fire Flower out as it shot a bunch of fireballs at the Piranhas. But as they were singed, the poisonous plants did nothing but wince slightly, quickly shaking it off.

Mario stared in disbelief. "That didn't do much," Goomblaine scoffed.

"I know, I know," the plumber groaned, feeling his heart sink as the Piranhas glared at him. The center one immediately hocked up a glob of sludge at him and Goomblaine, and they both dived out of the way just in time.

"I'll take care of this, guys! HIYA!" Hanner shouted, tossing a Shrink Hammer at the left Piranha. It responded by snapping the hammer up in its jaws and swallowing it in one gulp.

Hanner blanched. "Okay, new plan."

The Piranha growled at her and lunged forward, and she frantically ducked into her shell just in time, protecting herself from its massive fangs. While it was trying to bite down on her, Goomblaine quickly ran up and delivered a powerful Multibonk, causing it to gasp in pain and release its grip on the Hammer Sis.

Meanwhile, Stubba and Dulia were ganging up on the Piranha on the right. They were both very light and fast, repeatedly jumping out of the way as it tried to throw itself at them. When it had momentarily exhausted itself, Stubba dashed forward and bashed it over the head with his club as hard as he could – only to have it whip around with lighting fast reflexes and grab him in its mouth.

"EEEEEEEEEEEK!" he screamed as the Piranha tried to crush him in its jaws.

"HEY! You let him go!" Dulia shouted. She floated into the air and tried to ram into it, but it just sent her sprawling with a flick of its head.

"SOMEBODY HELP!" the little Clubba shrieked, starting to panic.

Snatchel immediately broke off from his fight with the center Piranha as he saw what was happening. "Hang on, little partner!" he shouted, charging forward and using Grab Dash on the Piranha. He rammed into it and yanked Stubba right out of its mouth, quickly carrying him to safety.

Mario stared at him. "I thought you could only steal _items_."

Snatchel just shrugged. "Sometimes, you gotta improvise."

Meanwhile, Hanner decided to bust out the big guns and used Multi-Throw, hurling at least a dozen hammers at the Piranhas in quick succession and striking all of them. Mario quickly joined in and wound up his Super Hammer, knocking the left Piranha in the head and sending it knocking into the other two.

The left Piranha rewarded Mario by spewing a hissing glob of poison at him with such force that it actually knocked him backwards and pinned him to the ground. He cried out and struggled to get away, but he wasn't fast enough. The Piranha shot its head at him, only for Dulia to immediately generate a Plasma Shield around Mario. The poisonous plant crashed its head directly into the pink shield and howled in frustration.

While Dulia was distracted, the center Piranha tried to lunge at her, only to be caught off guard as Stubba unleashed his Hyper Bounce and flew back and forth between all three Piranhas, moving much too quickly for them to snatch out of the air. Goomblaine to follow up with a Headbonk on the nearest Piranha, but was too slow and was instead sent reeling from a poisonous chomp.

Mario completely lost track of how long the fight went on. It was complete chaos. He and his partners were fighting desperately, for their very lives… but for all their efforts, their team still didn't have a clear victory. Both they and the Piranhas were running low on energy, and it was impossible to say who would be taken out of the fight first…

"Mario, I don't know how much longer we can keep this up," Hanner whimpered as she staggered backwards in exhaustion, barely dodging the grip of a Piranha.

"I know, Hanner, I know," was all Mario could say. He was so tired he could barely stand, and it was all he could do to swing his hammer at the Piranha to keep it from getting close.

"But we can't lose! There's gotta be _something _we can do!" Stubba cried desperately. Snatchel was trying to keep the right Piranha pinned down with his lasso, but he was fighting a losing battle.

Mario gazed hopelessly up at their opponents. On either side of him, his partners were using up their last ounces of strength trying to keep the Piranhas at bay. He knew deep down that unless he did something fast, they were going to lose.

"We need fire," he finally decided. "That's the only thing that's going to finish them off fast enough."

Hanner stared at him. "Fire? But those Fire Flowers are useless, Mario… we've got no firepower!"

Mario grimaced, knowing she was right. His heart was hammering… but then he looked at Dulia and remembered.

"No… that's not true. Not even close!"

Dulia immediately realized what he planned to do. She dutifully ran up to him, and they grabbed hands and shouted loudly enough that their voices could be heard throughout the factory.

"_Fire Away!_"

Countless plumes of fire suddenly materialized around Mario and Dulia, causing the other partners to jump back in shock. The fireballs circled around the duo for one moment before finally shooting off, streaking toward the three Piranhas and pelting them with tremendous force. The room lit up from the light of the blazing fire as the Piranhas shrieked in pain, going up in flames…

And then it was over. The fireballs finally dissipated as the three defeated plants toppled over and crashed to the ground.

Mario's team braced themselves, but there was no need. Slowly and weakly, their opponents retreated back into the hole in the floor, and in a moment they were gone.

Mario's team was alone.

"We… we did it," Dulia breathed.

"We sure did," Mario agreed. He stood where he was, feeling slightly overwhelmed that they'd finally defeated the Piranhas once and for all… but still, he knew that the real fight, against their master, would be even worse than this.

And it was about to start.

"That's that, then," he said quietly. "We made it. This is it, everybody. We're stopping her. We're ending this now."

The team members all glanced at each other, filling with worry and dread at what they were about to face, but knowing they had no choice but to go on.

They were shutting down the factory, and they were saving Chronoside.

They walked up to the door, pushed it open and walked on through.

––

They were surprised to find that the door led out to only a small ledge, seemingly a dead end. They couldn't go any farther, but they quickly realized they didn't have to.

All of them saw it at once. They were standing in another huge, multi-story room, and down one floor from them was another metal catwalk that stretched across the room.

There were two people standing on it, facing off against each other.

"It's Maizee… and the mayor!" Hanner gasped as they all crowded around and stared down.

"The mayor's okay!" Dulia whispered in relief. "He's fighting back!"

"Have you heard, Maizee?" Bulbin snapped at her. "Mario just beat those Piranhas of yours! You couldn't stop him! He's going to be here any minute!"

Maizee just bristled at him. "I don't _care! _You know I don't care! I've done everything I can! I say let him come!"

"You're going to attack him again, Maizee. Do it now."

"_No! _Don't you get it, Bulbin? It's pointless! He's stronger than both of us, and despite all your best efforts he's coming here to stop you _right now!_"

Mario's eyes bulged. His heart nearly stopped.

"What – what is she saying?" Hanner whispered incredulously. His partners all looked shocked. They looked _mortified._

"He's not stupid, Bulbin," Maizee went on. "He's going to figure out that you staged that kidnapping so you could lure him here! It's just too bad you didn't count on him being strong enough to make it this far! Now he's going to find out everything you've done, and he's going to _ruin _you! You're going to find out what you put _me _through!"

"Have you _forgotten your place?_" Bulbin roared at her. "Have you forgotten what I'll do if you don't listen to me? I _order _you to attack him again!"

"No, Bulbin," she replied with an awful smirk. "Mario's here. He's going to beat you. You have no power over me anymore. You're _through._"

Bulbin was shaking with rage. His face was turning red.

"That's where you're wrong!" he shouted. "Mario will never find out the truth if _you're _not there to tell it to him!"

At that very moment, the three Piranhas suddenly came bursting out of the floor behind the catwalk. Maizee spun around and stared up at them, looking terrified.

"What – what are you doing?" she cried out as they gazed down dangerously at her. "You three… it's me! Don't… don't you remember me?"

The answer to that was all too plain. The Piranhas showed no sign of familiarity, no trace of affection as they towered over her, dripping poison and swaying erratically.

They had lost too much of their minds to even recognize her.

"You should have known, Maizee," Bulbin said in a low voice. "Above everything and everyone else, they are loyal to _me. _After all, I made them."

He looked up at the center one and said only: "Do it."

It lunged at Maizee and dug its fangs into her chest.

Mario cried out. He heard Hanner and Dulia scream.

Bulbin watched the whole thing without a trace of emotion. Maizee let out an agonized, unearthly shriek as the Piranha whipped its head back and forth, gripping her in its jaws and flailing her around as though she were a limp rag doll. Finally it threw its head to the side and released her, and Mario thought he saw the light leave her eyes as she slammed into the wall and slid down, plummeting to the ground floor far below.


	33. Chapter 5, Part III

**A/N: **This is a short update, and I think you'll see why. It says everything that needs to be said.

––––

_**Poisoned Factory**_

_**3:28 am**_

Mario hurtled down the stairs as fast as he possibly could, his heart nearly bursting out of his chest and his mind reeling with what he had just witnessed. He was panicking. He was only vaguely aware of his partners following after him, their chaotic footsteps echoing _clang-clang-clang-clang-clang _as they pounded down the metal steps.

He didn't even know what he was doing. All he knew was that he had to get there _now – _

Finally he reached the ground floor, rounded the sharp corner so quickly he nearly fell over, and literally kicked open the door that was standing in his way.

He and his partners crowded into the room, drew to a stop and stared in fear.

The room was dimly lit, with only a few industrial red and yellow lights providing illumination. Like one of the previous rooms they had been in, it was also flooding. Most of the floor was covered in several inches of murky water, and only the thin metal walkway they were standing on was dry.

Maizee was lying facedown on the ground on the opposite end of the room, half in the water and half out, not moving an inch.

Was she breathing? Was she even alive? He didn't know if the fall had been from high enough to be fatal – but that Piranha, and the way it had torn into her…

Taking a deep, shaking breath, Mario gathered up his resolve and hurried over to her, his partners following him. He crouched down next to her and pulled her out of the water, turning her over so they could see her face.

She didn't look anything like the spiteful, vindictive enemy who'd been hunting them down all this time… she looked so _vulnerable…_

And then she grimaced and opened her eyes.

Mario nearly dropped her in surprise. He heard a few of his partners gasping from behind him.

It took Maizee a moment to realize where she was, but when she did, she looked equally surprised.

"M…Mario?" she gasped, quickly thrusting herself free from him and staring warily. "Y… you're here? You're all here?"

Mario was stunned. She was badly bruised, but other than that, she looked fine.

"Maizee… you're all right?" he asked in astonishment. "You're… you're not poisoned?"

She frowned at his reaction. "I _can't _be poisoned. Not anymore, at least," she replied. "I… I've had to stay in this awful place for so long, I've… gotten immune to it, I suppose." She looked up at him with wide eyes. "Oh, Mario… did… did you hear everything Bulbin and I were saying just now?"

Mario nodded vaguely, still in a stunned daze.

"I suppose I can finally tell you the whole truth now. I've got nothing left to lose." She slowly drew herself up to her feet, wincing in obvious pain as she did so. "Mario… all those times I went after you… that was all Bulbin's idea. He made me do it, every time."

Mario just gave her a quizzical look. Did he really believe that?

"What? Oh come on! Whaddaya mean, he _made _you?" Goomblaine demanded, obviously not believing a word of it.

Maizee just sighed resignedly. "I didn't think you'd trust me," she said. "I should probably start at the beginning. Did Bulbin tell you that I've been running this factory and experimenting with all the poisonous chemicals?"

"Yes…"

"Well, that was a lie," she said frankly. "_He's _the one doing all that. I had nothing to do with it. Back when people were first starting to get poisoned, I realized someone must have been starting the factory up, and I went over here to find out who was responsible for it all… I found him, and I caught him in the act."

Mario frowned warily. "But then…?"

"But then… he framed me." Maizee's voice started growing faint and sad. "He told everyone _I _was the one doing it, and _he _had caught _me. _And… everyone believed him, of course. He's the mayor."

She lowered her face to the floor, looking more and more miserable as she recounted that day that had ruined everything. "So they kicked me out of town. They exiled me. They said I could never come back. And Bulbin's been there the whole time, right under their noses, and still nobody knows…"

Mario was too taken aback by all this to know how he felt, but he knew he had to get the whole story. "So what are you doing _here?_" he prompted.

"Here… even after I was exiled, he wasn't done with me," she recalled. "He didn't want me going free to tell _other _people the truth about him… so he kept me in here, where he could keep an eye on me."

She shook her head. "I have no idea how long that lasted. I… I've completely lost track of time. I was completely alone in here, and he had complete control over me… and there was nothing I could do…

"But then not too long ago, he somehow found out about those Sun Souls." She gave a light shrug. "I have to be honest, Mario… I still don't really know what they're supposed to do. Bulbin doesn't either, I think. He just knew that they'd be a perfect way to keep the factory powered forever, so no one could ever stop him. But… he couldn't go after them himself, obviously. He'd risk losing face. Somebody had to do it for him."

"And that someone was you."

She nodded in agreement. "Me and those Piranhas. He sent me out there with them time after time… and he heard about you, Mario, and he wanted me to stop you. But when I found out you were looking for the Sun Souls too… well, I still don't know why you need them, Mario, but I knew right away that it was for something noble. You were doing the right thing with them… so even though I had to attack you whenever I saw you, I've been… trying to help you along. I wonder if you noticed."

Mario frowned in puzzlement, wondering what she could possibly mean by that… and then he remembered something.

"That Power Bounce Badge," he recalled. "The one the Piranhas dropped in the forest… you _wanted _me to get that, didn't you?"

She nodded.

"Yeah… and then you had them eat Clefford's supplies so he couldn't follow us," Hanner realized further. "And you distracted the guards outside Mustard Mines so we could get in…"

"And at the circus, you… did something to the Darkstriders?" Mario looked at Maizee in confusion.

She looked a little sheepish. "Well… they were about to attack you, Mario. I couldn't let them do that." She frowned again, looking guiltier than ever. "Oh, Mario… you have no idea how much I hate myself for all the trouble I've caused you. I swear, if there had been any other way… but there wasn't. All I could do was hope every time that you'd beat me, and I was always so relieved when you did…"

She trailed off, looking forlornly at him. He knew he should say something, but he was at a complete loss for words. He had no idea what to think.

He still wasn't sure he believed her… after all, he hadn't forgotten about the _last _villain who'd claimed to have been on his side the whole time…

"But… but I still don't get it," Hanner finally spoke up in protest. "I mean… why'd you _let _Bulbin order you around all this time? Why didn't you stand up to him?"

Hanner had apparently asked the wrong question, as Maizee visibly winced at it. She looked reluctant to answer, but finally she did.

"…When you were back in the village," she began, "did you see all the sick flowers? Did you meet a little one named Daymien?"

Mario started to nod… only to freeze as he realized what she was about to say.

"Daymien… he's my son."

No one said a thing.

"He was the very first one to get sick," she recalled miserably. "I swore I wouldn't rest until I found out who had done this to him. And now… now I can't even go near him anymore." Her voice was shaking. "And Bulbin… he said that if I ever went against his orders… if I ever even tried to tell you the truth… he'd personally end my son's game."

And then the tears that she'd been holding back this whole time finally came spilling out. "He's so sick… he has no way of defending himself… there was nothing else I could do…"

Mario and the others could only stare at her as she hanged her head and cried. Mario was starting to feel weak from everything he'd just learned. He suddenly had an almost uncontrollable urge to take Maizee by the hand and promise her everything would be okay.

_This doesn't make any sense… ten minutes ago she was one of our most feared and dangerous enemies… and now –_

And that was when he realized it. And the realization was like a blow to his head.

_All the times we've run into her, it's always been at night… we've never seen her in Dayside… not even once…_

"Maizee," he ventured, very aware of how much his voice was trembling, "do you know that there's something wrong with the sun? Do you remember how it used to come up during the day and it wasn't always dark like this?"

His partners all blinked in shock. Maizee's tears quickly dried up. She stared up at Mario, looking like she hardly dared to believe what she was hearing.

"You remember too?" she said softly. "I haven't seen the sun in so long… is that why you need the Sun Souls? Are you going to bring the sun back, Mario?"

Mario's throat was too tight for him to do anything but nod. For some reason, now he was tearing up as well.

"Mario… whatever you've heard about me, I promise it's a lie," Maizee said simply, pleading her case one final time. "I never wanted any of this to happen. All I wanted was to protect my son. And I couldn't even do that." Her gaze fell to the floor. "That doesn't change the fact that I've done terrible things to you and your friends. I don't expect your forgiveness. But I still pray for it."

For a moment, nobody said anything in reply. They obviously weren't sure what they could possibly say.

The one who finally broke the silence was Dulia.

"Aww, Maizee… of course we forgive you," she said earnestly. "Trust me, I know exactly what it's like, being forced to hurt people you care about."

"And all this time we thought you were the bad guy… I feel _terrible_…" Hanner groaned.

"Yeah, it's cool, I guess," Goomblaine muttered, trying to make a show of indifference.

"So… you're _not _mean?" asked Stubba, looking delighted. "Aww, I'm so glad."

"I reckon we're the ones who oughta be apologizin'," Snatchel sighed, removing his hat respectfully. "We've been givin' ya such a hard time, and we didn't even know…"

Mario nodded in agreement with his partners.

Maizee just shook her head. "There's no need for any of you to apologize. I understand completely." Suddenly, a distracted look crossed her face, and she glanced over her shoulder at something. "Mario… I'm not finished in here yet. I think I know where Bulbin's gone… I don't know what he's planning to do, but I have to stop him. But I can't do it by myself. You'll help me, won't you?"

"Yes, Maizee, we will. We all will."

And then, for the first time that Mario had ever seen, she actually smiled.

"Thank you," she said. "We'd better hurry up and go then. We don't have any time to waste."

And the next thing Mario knew, his partners had stood back and made room as she walked over and joined him at his side, at long last.

_**Maizee Joined Mario's Party!**_

_Maizee is a kind and caring Crazee Dayzee who will selflessly defend her friends and family above and beyond the call of duty. She can use her singing voice to disable traps or other hazards that Mario can't get past on his own. In battle, she can use her Lullaby to damage an enemy with the chance of putting it to sleep, or use Hay Fever on Mario to make him Allergic and incapable of receiving a status infliction._

With nothing left to do, the group turned around and walked back toward the door, leaving the way they had come… and Mario realized, despite how strange it sounded, that it no longer bothered him that outside it was the dead of night and inside they were surrounded by poison. Right now, the world felt brighter than it ever had before.

––––

**A/N: ***awaits flames*


	34. Chapter 5, Part IV

**A/N: **…Well, at least I made you guys wait a month after this last update instead of the one before it, right? ^^;

––––

_**Poisoned Factory**_

_**3:29 am**_

Mario obviously didn't know his way around the factory at all, but his latest teammate certainly did. Without her, he might never have found out that they had only explored the front half so far. There was actually an outside "courtyard" that led over to the back half of the building, and that was where they were headed now.

"At least we'll get to go back outside for a little while… though I don't suppose it smells much better out there," he sighed, swinging his arms as he went. "So you think Bulbin's over there somewhere?"

"Yes, over there is where all the poison comes from. That's where he usually works," Maizee replied, walking right at his side. "But we don't have much time, Mario. Now that he knows you're coming for him, I'm afraid he's going to abandon all his precautions and do something desperate…" She trailed off, looking uneasy.

"Don't worry. We'll stop him before he does anything," Mario promised her, trying to be assuring. She gave him a light smile, but it looked halfhearted.

He couldn't help but notice that she was sticking close to him and seemed reluctant to go near the other partners. She wasn't a shy person, so she must have still been feeling guilty… or else she was still preoccupied with her son.

At that moment, Mario noticed the other partners wandering off to their left and exploring the place as they headed over to the door. He expected Maizee to hang back like she had been doing, but suddenly she glanced over at them and seemed to remember something.

"Oh… would you excuse me just a minute, Mario?" she asked. Mario was surprised to realize she was looking right at Snatchel.

"Wait a minute," she said, quickly walking up to him. "I… I wanted to talk to you."

He immediately stopped and turned to her in surprise. "Huh? Me?"

She looked a little bashful. "I wanted to apologize for being so disrespectful to you at Mustard Mines… you must know I didn't mean any of it, but still. Especially if you really are the sheriff," she said sincerely. "What's your name again?"

Snatchel looked completely flustered. "Uh… I can't remember."

"Nice going there, Cowboy Casanova," Hanner snickered.

"Uh, guys… we have a bit of a problem," came Mario's voice. The partners looked and saw he was standing in front of the door they needed to go through, but there was a force field cutting it off.

Maizee quickly turned to look at where Mario was standing. "Oh, that… that's not a problem, Mario. Stand back for a minute."

He quickly obeyed, and he and the other partners watched as Maizee stood in front of the door. She closed her eyes in concentration for a moment before starting to sing – and then suddenly, the sound of her voice caused the control panel creating the force field to short circuit. It began letting loose a shower of sparks and a loud crack, and the force field flickered and vanished.

"Wow… that's a nifty little trick," Mario said in approval as they headed through the door.

It was an immense relief to be back out in the open for a moment, though just as Mario had suspected, the smell was as bad as it had been inside. It was also blustery and cold out; Mario shivered and hugged himself as a wind whipped by them, blowing smoke along with it.

It was also much darker outside than in… and Mario almost didn't see that they weren't alone.

"EEK! What are those things?" Dulia cried out, scrambling backwards.

Mario looked and stared. The courtyard was absolutely swarming with an enemy species he'd never laid eyes on before. From what he could make out from the factory lights, they looked basically like sentient globs of green sludge with oozing mouths and big wide eyes, and they were covering just about every visible surface as they slid around, babbling in loud cacophonous voices.

"Oh dear…" Maizee sighed.

"Just great. Those things're Goozes," Goomblaine griped as he Tattled on the strange enemies. "They're made outta the sludge that's getting spewed from this place, but it's gotten so strong that they've started coming to life."

"They've _what?_" Mario cried, then turned to Maizee. "You didn't mention that!"

"I was hoping it wouldn't come up…" she said nervously as the Goozes quickly stopped what they were doing and glared at the intruders.

"Looks like we gotta fight these things to get past, huh?" Hanner remarked, gripping her hammer carefully. "Well, they sure don't look very strong."

"Yeah! I bet I can take 'em!" Stubba said confidently. He grabbed his club and marched right up to the nearest Gooze, which stood watching him dumbly and looking harmless…

And then it shot out a poisonous tendril from its body at lightning fast speed, latching onto Stubba.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Stubba screamed, thrashing to get free as at least a dozen other Goozes started inching toward him. Within seconds they had all wrapped their tendrils around him too, threatening to completely swallow him up.

"Stubba!" Mario cried, charging blindly forward and sending the Goozes flying with one furious swing of his hammer. Unfortunately, now that he'd gotten their attention, the entire army of poisonous creatures fixed their eyes on Mario's team and began oozing inexhorably toward them.

"What was that about them _not _being strong?" Goomblaine snarled in exasperation as they all started backing away.

"They're _not _strong… not by themselves, anyway," said Maizee. "But they're never by themselves."

"Okay then…" Mario was starting to get nervous. "Uh, Maizee, you don't know how we can beat these guys, do you?"

"Well… they hate light. They only come out in dark places," she offered. "But that's not going to help us if the sun won't even – "

She broke off in confusion when she saw the delighted look on his face. "Mario?"

She blinked in surprise as suddenly pulled out the Aeon Hourglass and quickly tipped it over. The entire group disappeared in a blaze of light just as the first Gooze launched itself at them.

––

_**Poisoned Factory**_

_**3:30 pm**_

As Mario's vision cleared, he wasn't surprised to find that the scenery wasn't much better during the day. The smoke still filled the air and the dismal gray clouds still covered the sky, meaning the sun was nowhere to be seen.

But it was light out, and that seemed to be good enough. There were no Goozes anywhere.

"Phew… what a relief," Mario sighed, relaxing.

Maizee didn't look quite so comfortable. "What in the – " She whipped her head around. "What's going on? Mario – what did you _do?_"

She stared at the hourglass in his hands. "What… what _is _that thing?"

Mario looked back at her. "Oh, Maizee… you still don't know what's really going on, do you?" he realized. "I guess we'd better fill you in…"

Maizee looked away from the hourglass and up at him, quickly noticing the concerned look on his face. "Mario? What's going on?"

Mario couldn't help but feel sorry for her. This whole time, she'd had no idea what it was she was really being forced to fight against. He'd have to break this to her gently.

"Well… it's about the Sun Souls. What they're really for," he began. "They actually belong to the Twelve Guardians…"

So he explained the whole thing to her as cautiously as he could. Just as he'd predicted, she looked utterly horrified.

"You… you can't be serious," she breathed. "Someone would actually _do _a thing like that? Why, why that's completely blasphemous! And I…"

Then the full implications of what he'd said seemed to hit her, and she looked even _more _upset.

"And all this time… you've been trying to bring the Guardians back… and I've been getting in your way…" She stared off into the distance, looking drained. "I've done even worse things than I thought… oh, Mario…"

"Maizee, it's not your fault, remember?" Mario assured her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Anyway, at least you know the truth now. But… Bulbin _does _have a Sun Soul in the factory somewhere, right?"

She nodded firmly. "Yes, and I know exactly where it is. I'll take you right to it," she promised him. "He's not getting away with this."

"Just out of curiosity," Dulia spoke up, "you never, uh… went anywhere near it, did you? You never touched it?"

Everyone looked at Maizee in interest, but she just looked perplexed at the strange question.

"No, of course not. Bulbin always kept it for himself," she replied. "Why do you ask?"

Dulia and the others looked a little disappointed. "Oh, no reason…"

"Okay, can we shut up and get going now? I'm gettin' ready to puke from all this stench," Goomblaine cut in impatiently.

"Right. We'd better hurry and go," Mario agreed, and the group walked across the eerie courtyard and over to the door on the other end.

––

_**Poisoned Factory**_

_**3:31 pm**_

The second part of the factory had an identical layout to the first, containing three upper floors with doors that branched off in all different directions. As Maizee explained to them, the door they were looking for was on the top floor, but it was being held shut by three hydraulic wheels somewhere within the building.

"There's on one each of the upper floors," she concluded as the group was navigating its way through another maze of conveyor belts. "Don't worry, I'll show you where each of them are. I could find my way around this place in my sleep by now."

They quickly found the room containing the first staircase and ascended to the second floor. Luckily, they weren't blocked off by force fields in this part of the factory. The team still had a large array of poisonous enemies to deal with, but with Maizee around they weren't nearly as big a threat anymore. She was often able to subdue them with a single Lullaby, sending them dropping to the floor, out cold.

Finally they arrived at a very large room on the second floor and skidded to stop in surprise. The room here had no floor at all, only a bunch of huge gears lying parallel with the ground floor. They were turning around and around as they ran the conveyor belt on the lower floor, and the only way the group could even get to the other end of the room was by jumping across them.

"Well, we gotta get over there somehow," Dulia said resignedly. Everyone's eyes fell on the hydraulic wheel resting on the other side of the room. It had a thick metal pipe snaking out of its top, leading to somewhere far above them.

"Oh, great…" Mario groaned, gazing out at the quickly rotating gears. "We have to jump across _those _things? I'm getting sick just looking at them."

"Aw, don't worry about that, Mario. I'll do it!" Snatchel immediately volunteered.

Mario gave him a look. "You will? Are you sure you can make it over there?"

"Oh, c'mon, partner, I've handled wild Yoshis a million times trickier than this!" He glanced over at Maizee to make sure she was watching him. "Here I go!"

He started jumping fearlessly and agilely across the room… and made it about halfway before he was suddenly flung off the spinning gear and down to the ground floor. "AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Maizee just stared down dumbly after him. "Oh dear… he doesn't think things through, does he?"

Hanner doubled over laughing while Dulia blushed and giggled uneasily. "Poor Maizee… she doesn't even know when somebody's flirting with her!" said the little Duplighost.

Several minutes later, Snatchel came bursting through the door again looking very ticked off, but Mario had already hopped across the gears himself and turned the metal wheel. As he did, there was a deafening hissing sound that came from the pipe, sounding like the release of a large amount of pressure.

Maizee beamed in approval. "That was wonderful, Mario!"

Snatchel deflated. "Oh, come on…"

––

On their way back to the main area, Mario suddenly noticed a tall, zigzagging staircase leading up the wall of the room they were in.

"Hmm… where does that go, Maizee?"

"What? Oh, I'm actually not sure…"

Mario strained to look up at the very top of the staircase, and when he saw where it led up to, he looked excited.

"Hey, there's a big chest up there!" he realized. "Hang on a second, everyone. I'll be right down."

"What on earth is he doing?" Maizee wondered as the plumber took off like a rocket.

"You clearly don't know the first rule of adventuring. Open every chest you find," Hanner said jokingly.

"I thought the first rule of adventuring was to go into every house you find, because for some reason the people living there probably won't care and might actually give you stuff," Dulia remarked, cocking her head. "Am I the only one who's noticed that?"

"Yeah, that's probably a rule too," Hanner muttered.

Meanwhile, Mario had reached the ledge at the very top of the stairs and smiled in anticipation as he pried open the large chest. He guessed that it was another upgrade waiting for him… and it turned out he was right.

"Guys! Guys! Look what I found!" he shouted a minute later, dashing back down the stairs and grinning. "Are you ready for this?"

He reached into his pocket and dramatically pulled out…

Hanner blinked. "Mario, that's a rock."

Mario frowned. "It's not _just _a rock! It's an _Ultra Stone!_" he protested, holding up the red spherical stone for the group to see. "We can use this to upgrade you guys even more!"

Stubba looked delighted. "Oh, really? You mean we can get even _stronger? _That's so neat!"

"Uh… yeah, it should be really useful," Mario agreed, watching the little Clubba run around in excited circles and trying to imagine him being even more destructive than he already was.

At any rate, Mario didn't even have to wait long to find the next Luma; he noticed the glimmer of sparkles right next to the stairs leading up to the third floor. Just as before, the smog and Poison Puffs were beginning to fill up the air as they went up, and so they plowed their way through as quickly as they could.

Eventually they worked their way down a long and very dark hallway that was cut off with a force field at the end. Maizee was able to disable it the same way she'd done to the first one, and Mario quickly ran up and turned the wheel that was on the other side. But as they were heading back…

"Oh, great… those Gooze freaks are back," Goomblaine grunted.

Mario stopped where he was. "They are? I don't see any… where are they?"

"Try _right above you?_"

Mario froze and slowly looked up in time to see a group of Goozes hanging off of the ceiling, cackling in bubbly voices as they corroded away one of the huge pipes running across.

Mario blanched. "Uh oh – AHHHHH!" he screamed, leaping back just in time as the pipe came completely loose and crashed to the ground, sending up a spray of steam and completely cutting off their escape. The Goozes let out wicked laughs and sloughed off into the shadows.

"Oh my goodness – Mario, are you all right?" Maizee cried, running up to him.

Mario tried to calm his heartbeat. "Oh, yeah… I've nearly died plenty of times already. Don't worry."

The Dayzee turned to look at the thick pipe that was now sprawled across the floor. "Well, that's good… but now we're stuck over here. How are we going to get back? I don't imagine any of us are strong enough to move that."

Mario rubbed his chin and looked thoughtful for a moment before he seemed to get an idea. "Hmm… you're right. We can't move that thing."

And then he withdrew the hourglass. "Which is why I say we cheat."

His partners grinned as he turned the hourglass over and transported them away.

––

_**Poisoned Factory**_

_**3:47 am**_

Without the fallen pipe to get in their way, the group made their way to the final staircase and ascended to the very top floor. Before long they had walked through a door that led them to a large, mostly nondescript room… but on the other end was an enormous, circular metal door at least six inches thick. It looked like the door to a safe.

"That's where we want to go… and there's the last wheel," said Maizee, noting the hydraulic wheel just to the left of the door. "I… listen, everyone…"

The group turned to her. "Before we go in there… I just wanted to say, thank you. From the first time I saw all of you, I always hoped you'd be the ones who could shut this awful place down… and it looks like you really are. I never should have doubted you for a minute."

"What, you're surprised? C'mon, we're Team Mario!" Hanner laughed. "And anyway, we wouldn't have made it this far without you!"

"Yeah! We're awesome! Nobody can beat us!" Stubba cheered, running up and giving Maizee a hug.

She was so shocked, she didn't move.

Stubba quickly realized something was wrong and looked up at her in concern. "…What's the matter?"

"You all right, Maizee?" asked Mario.

"Oh… yes… it's nothing," she quickly promised them. "It's just, I… you've all been so wonderful to me, even after everything… and I…" She hesitated. "I've just been here for such a long time, I almost forgot what it was like to be…"

"Part of a family?" Hanner prompted her with a smile.

Maizee looked at her in surprise. "A family… is that what this is?"

"'Fraid so," Mario replied. "And that means you can't get rid of us, no matter how hard you try or how annoying we are."

Stubba frowned. "But we're _not _annoying… are we, Mario?"

Maizee saw the very concerned look on his face and actually started laughing. And it was a genuine, mirthful laugh.

"Of course not, sweetheart," she promised Stubba, ruffling his three little hairs. "All of you… Mario, I think you and your friends are the most wonderful people I've ever met. I… I never thought I'd be lucky enough to have friends like you."

She started blinking back tears, and Mario realized that the misgivings she'd had toward them before were completely gone. "If anyone can help me save Viney Valley… I know you all can. I wouldn't put my faith in anyone else."

Hanner was grinning. "Aww! GROUP HUG!" she cheered, dashing forward only for Mario to grab her and haul her back.

"Maybe some other time, Hanner. We've still got stuff to take care of."

Hanner looked sheepish. "Yeah, you're right."

"I'll go turn that last wheel. You guys just wait here."

His partners obediently stood back and waited as Mario walked over to the other end of the room. He paused in front of the wheel and, before he turned it, glanced back at his partners and saw them talking quietly to each other.

He watched Maizee and smiled. "It's really something… no matter how many partners I get, they never stop surprising me. I never would've guessed she'd turn out to be such a nice person."

_Mm… well, you're quite full of surprises yourself, Mario, _said a somewhat older female voice. _I'll bet _she _never would have guessed she'd meet someone as wonderful as you!_

Mario blushed. "Oh, stop it. You don't need to flatter me like that."

_Why, who's flattering? It's the truth, darling! _laughed a second voice. _You're loyal and kind, and so very charming! She's a lucky one!_

"…Well, I'm glad you feel that way. But right now all I'm worried about is helping her out and clearing her name."

_And I'm sure you'll do just that, _the first voice replied. _I know certainly helped me, more than I could ever repay you for! Although I suppose looking after a bunch of kids isn't quite as hard as what she's been through…_

_What we're trying to say is, we have faith in you, Mario dear, _the second voice chimed in. _Fate brought you together for a reason. Whatever's happened in the past, she couldn't be in better hands._

"I sure hope you're right," Mario muttered. He stood back and looked at the wheel. "Well… here goes."

He tightly gripped the wheel in both his hands and gave it a hard turn. Just as the other two had done, the pipe that extended out of it let out a loud hiss… and Mario could see that the pipe snaked right over to the door.

Ever so slowly, accompanied by a grating metallic creak, the door swung open.

His partners stopped what they were doing and stared. Mario quickly walked over to join them.

"I can't believe it… we actually made it this far," said Dulia.

Mario smiled. "Well, we are heroes, after all," he replied. "You guys ready? This is really it. No turning back."

"We're right behind ya, partner," Snatchel said loyally.

Maizee nodded firmly. "It's time to make Bulbin pay for what he's done. I've stood back and let this happen long enough."

Mario looked at his friends in approval. Whatever Bulbin had planned for them on the other side, they were a team. They would face it together.

The group slowly crowded through the door… and with a deafening clang and a hiss, it slammed shut behind them.

––––

**A/N: **Yes, not only did you have to wait a month, you had to wait a month for a boring dungeon-crawling part. Sorry 'bout that.


	35. Chapter 5, Part V

_**Poisoned Factory**_

_**3:59 am**_

The room on the other side was large and circular. Mario and the others quickly realized they were standing on a grate just like the one in the room where they had battled the Putrid Piranhas. That was the only floor in the room; they could see through it all the way down to the completely flooded bottom floor, and it was a very long drop.

What really held their attention, however, was the enormous metal tank on the other side of the room, as well as the person standing in front of it.

"There you are," Mario said in a low voice.

Bulbin immediately turned around and looked at the team, trying to appear surprised. "Oh, Mario! You and your friends made it after all," he said. "I guess you really are as strong as they say. Thank goodness."

He put on an innocent smile, and Mario thought it was the most disgusting thing he'd ever seen. "It almost pains me to tell you that I've been playing you all this time."

"Stop fooling around, Bulbin," Mario snarled at him, clenching his fists. "We already know the whole truth. We know what you've been doing here and we know what you did to Maizee."

The mayor frowned slightly. "Is that so. Well, that hardly matters. You still couldn't stop me and you're still not getting out of here alive."

He took a few steps toward them, causing them all to instinctively strike battle stances. He openly scoffed at this.

"You want to _fight _me? You don't understand, do you? I have enough power in this room to end all your games in a heartbeat. Although, if you all were to leave right now and pretend you never saw any of this, I _might_ be inclined to leave you alone."

"Yeah, right," Hanner snarled at him. "We're not going anywhere! We know you've got a Sun Soul in here, and we're not leaving without it!"

Bulbin stared at her for a moment before he seemed to realize what she was talking about. "Oh, yes, I'd almost forgotten about that. This is what you came for?"

Suddenly there came a glowing from somewhere behind the large metal tank. Mario's party all stared warily up at it, and their eyes widened as the source of the glowing suddenly rose up and appeared before them.

It was an absolutely stunning Sun Soul, colored a deep, majestic bluish-green. It gave off a brilliant light as it hovered on top of the metal tank, too far away for Mario's team to reach.

"No, I can't imagine I'll let you have this, Mario," Bulbin said conversationally. "I should thank you, though. After I defeat you and your friends, I'll be able to take all of _your _Sun Souls for myself. That should save me quite a bit of trouble, even if Maizee completely failed at the job I gave her."

Mario was too furious to respond. Even now, Bulbin was using the same friendly, innocent mannerisms he used when he was masquerading in front of his village. How could he be so nonchalant about this? Mario would have _preferred _it if he had been gloating…

"Maizee was the only one before you to find out my little secret, you know," he went on. "And I suppose you saw what I did to her just a while ago. So unless you want to end up like her…"

"That's _enough _out of you, Bulbin," came a voice, and suddenly Maizee stepped out from behind Mario, very much alive.

Bulbin took one look at her, and for the first time, his calm façade started to falter.

"You – you – what are _you _doing here?" he cried, his eyes wide with disbelief. "I – I saw you! How could you have survived that? You're nothing but a pathetic little flower!"

Mario scoffed at him. "Not hardly. She's not just a flower, she's a _mother_. You really have no idea how dangerous they are, do you?"

"I'm putting an end to this _now_, Bulbin!" Maizee snapped at him, her voice seething with the anger and hatred she'd been unable to act on until now. "For _too long_ now I've been your willing pawn! For too long I've stood back and watched as you did these unspeakable things at the expense of innocent people like Mario and his friends! But it all ends here! YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO MY HOME AND WHAT YOU DID TO MY SON!"

Hanner let out a low whistle. "That is one awesome lady."

"I think Diavelli was less scary than her," Dulia agreed.

Bulbin just glared at her for a long moment before he seemed to collect himself again. "Big words, Maizee," he chided. "But I'm afraid you and Mario are both too late. Mario, you do remember what I told you Maizee was doing in here, don't you? Experimenting with ingesting poison and all that?"

Mario just glared at him.

"Yes, I'm sure you remember. Well, obviously there was a grain of truth to that. That is exactly what I've been doing in here, after all. And I've come to the conclusion that there's simply no way to avoid the mental detriment that comes with ingesting this poison… but knowing you'd come in here trying to stop me at any moment, I decided to risk it and ingested it anyway."

Mario's team had not been expecting that.

"You _what?_" Mario cried, aghast.

"Are you _mad?_" Maizee protested.

"Oh, quite possibly. Yes, I have quite a bit of it inside of me right now," he said in a completely calm, matter-of-fact voice. "I imagine you'll all be no match for me once the effects kick in. Oh yes… it's starting right now. I can feel it…"

Mario and his friends automatically stepped backwards, staring at the mayor in horror as a pained look suddenly crossed his face and he began to groan. Mario supposed they should have done something to stop him, but they were all too terrified to make a move…

His groaning grew louder and more pained… and then suddenly, he began to balloon in size. His collar and his hat snapped off as he grew and grew, sprouting a set of fangs as his skin changed color to more closely match the poison surrounding them. His blue flower turned into something out of a horror story, growing a long snout along with its own set of fangs.

Finally the growing stopped, and Mario's team found themselves staring up in terror at the mutated Bub-ulb towering over him. He was drooling poison had an insane look in his eyes, suggesting he wasn't exactly thinking logically anymore.

"Oh my goodness…" Maizee whispered, looking as frightened as everyone else. "He's gone too far this time. This is unforgivable."

"We gotta fight _him?_" Stubba whimpered. Never within his short life, not even within the past few weeks, had he come across someone as bad as this. This was a whole new class of villain…

"Get ready, you guys," Mario muttered, pulling out his hammer. The transformed mayor let out a horrible, booming laugh, signaling that he was ready and able to bring their games to a swift and painful end.

Goomblaine was actually shaking as he pulled his phone out. "Okay guys… as of a few seconds ago, this thing's called Toxic Bulbin! He can attack us by spitting up a bunch of poison or by chomping down at us with that big flower… and he can restore his health if it gets low, so you'd _better _not give him the chance to do it!"

"Ugh… I can already tell this is gonna be a great fight," Hanner groaned. Before she or any of the others could make a move, Toxic Bulbin stomped over to them and spewed out a glob of poison. Everyone screamed and jumped out of the way, and the poison landed on the ground with an ugly hiss.

"That stuff looks like it could melt your skin off…" Mario said in horror as everyone stared at it. "This is not good."

Looking angry and determined, Maizee quickly stepped forward and performed the loudest Lullaby she could. Toxic Bulbin recoiled in physical pain at the sound of it, briefly looking drowsy but quickly shaking it off. He wasn't going to be taken down that easily…

The flower on his head suddenly rushed down to take a bite out of her, but she quickly jumped out of the way. While he was distracted with her, Mario and the others ran up and prepared to attack as well. Mario threw himself into the air and performed a violent Power Bounce on the giant Bub-ulb, which proved to be a mistake when his flower grabbed Mario by the leg and hurled him across the room.

"Mario!" screamed several of his partners as he came crashing to the ground. He groaned, trying to steady himself. He wasn't poisoned, but that luck wouldn't hold out for long.

He lifted his head up to see most of the partners running over to him, except for Hanner, who was keeping Toxic Bulbin at bay by hurling hammer after hammer until her arm was sore. He didn't seem to be bothered by them, though, and just growled in annoyance at her.

"Guys, I'm fine! Go help her!" Mario shouted, but it was too late. He heard Hanner scream and looked over to her just in time to see her jump into her shell as Toxic Bulbin spat an enormous glob of poison at her, completely coating her.

"Oh no – Hanner!" he screamed, scrambling over and praying that stuff wouldn't eat through her shell. "Somebody help me get her out of here – "

"I'll take care of Bulbin, Mario." He turned to find Maizee standing next to him. "He's my responsibility. You worry about her."

Mario reluctantly nodded and crouched over Hanner as she slowly withdrew from her shell. He sighed in relief as he saw she looked fine.

"Yuck… I need a bath," she groaned.

Meanwhile, Maizee was trying to keep Toxic Bulbin distracted by singing at him again and again, driving him backwards. Finally the effect seemed to kick in and he started to stagger around drowsily, struggling to keep his eyes open.

Unfortunately, this had the unintended side effect of throwing off his aim.

"Mario!" Maizee cried as Bulbin spat out a poisonous glob. Its aim went wild and it flew right at Mario.

Mario's eyes bulged. He didn't have time to get away – but then Maizee shoved him out of the way and the poison splattered onto her instead.

"Maizee!" he gasped, but although she winced in discomfort, she didn't look affected at all. Then suddenly, she produced a handful of what looked like sparkling blue pollen and blew it right in Mario's face.

Caught completely by surprise, Mario let out a violent sneeze as the pollen settled on him. He suddenly felt lightheaded. What had she done…?

"He can't poison me, Mario," she reminded him as she rubbed the sludge off of herself. "And as long as I'm here, he can't poison you either."

Mario blinked as he realized she had just used Hay Fever on him.

"Thanks, Maizee," he said, quickly turning his attention back to the battle. "You'd better do that to the other guys too. I don't want any of us getting poisoned from _that_."

Toxic Bulbin looked displeased with this turn of events. He growled dangerously at Mario and Maizee before advancing on them – only to be stopped by the other partners. Snatchel came up from the side and rammed into him with all his strength, causing him to gasp in pain and almost tipping him over. Stubba joined in by Clubbing him as hard as he could, angrily screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Both of you, get out of there!" Maizee shouted at them. Sure enough, Toxic Bulbin immediately turned his attention to the two of them, looking furious. His flower snapped down at them with the intention of biting them in half, and they just barely ran out of the way in time. Maizee had to jump in and make Bulbin pause with another Lullaby.

"If you're going to attack him like that, don't be so reckless!" she scolded the other two as she turned to face them. "Don't you realize how dangerous it is? You're going to get yourselves killed!"

Snatchel started blushing. "Uh, sorry…"

Maizee shook her head and blew a handful of Hay Fever pollen on them. While she called the other partners over and gave them similar treatment, Mario realized he was the only one to keep Toxic Bulbin distracted. He immediately ran up and started Power Smashing with all his might, desperately trying to keep the Bub-ulb's attention away from Maizee.

It definitely worked. Bulbin bellowed in fury and spat a mouthful of poison at Mario at point-blank range, covering him from head to toe.

Mario groaned in disgust, but luckily, what should have been enough to lethally poison him had no effect at all. He sighed in relief.

Meanwhile, all the partners had started to gang up on Toxic Bulbin at once. Goomblaine was Multibonking him in the head while Dulia followed suit with a Head Missile. Snatchel had his lasso around the flower's mouth so it couldn't go taking a bite out of anyone.

It didn't work out very long. Bulbin suddenly screamed in fury and went completely berserk, throwing all the partners off of him with one good swipe. Mario gasped and hurried over to them, only to see Bulbin spit out glob after glob of disgusting sludge at them, determined to finish them once and for all.

"Oh crap – FALL BACK!" Mario shouted, and everyone scrambled to get out of his range. He continued bellowing what were probably threats at them as he spat out more and more poison, which covered the grate they were standing on and started eating away at it with an ominous hissing. Mario and the others tried to figure out a way to attack him, but he was attacking so wildly they didn't even have a safe window.

"What does he think he's doing? He's not even trying to hit us," Dulia said in confusion.

"He's not aiming for us…" Mario suddenly realized as he glanced down at the floor. "He's trying to corrode the floor away! He's going to make us all fall to our deaths!"

Stubba started panicking. "_What?_" he cried, clinging onto Mario in fear. "We gotta stop him!"

"We can't even do that unless he slows down somehow… which I don't think he will," Hanner said quietly.

Mario continued to watch the spectacle in fright until he finally got an idea. "Then I say we slow him down ourselves," he decided, turning to Stubba. "Stubba? You ready?"

"Oh yeah!" the little Clubba said determinedly. Both of them grabbed hands and valiantly raced forward.

"_Freeze Frame!_"

Toxic Bulbin briefly stopped what he was doing, gazing in confusion at the shining frame of green light that had suddenly materialized around him. He glared at it warily as it surrounded him, unsure of what to do… and then it gave out a blinding flash, and he was frozen in place.

"YES! We did it!" Mario cheered. "Come on guys, now's our chance!"

The entire team came charging forward and unleashed their most powerful attacks on the defenseless Bulbin. Along with Goomblaine, Mario was Power Bouncing on his head as hard as he possibly could, grunting with the effort as he used up every reserve of his energy.

The effect only lasted for a moment, but by the time Bulbin returned to normal and furiously sent everyone flying off of him, the damage had been done.

"I think it's working, everyone! He's running out of energy!" Maizee announced. Sure enough, Bulbin was visibly panting in exhaustion, looking like he would fall over at any moment. Mario grinned in triumph…

But then Bulbin suddenly backed up until he was standing right in front of the metal tank. The smile fell from Mario's face as he watched in confusion… and then his jaw dropped as a rain of poison suddenly came out of a showerhead attached the tank that he hadn't even noticed before.

Bulbin was completely drenched in it, and it had the opposite effect it would have had on a normal person. Within seconds, he was at full strength and grinned crazily at the group.

"_What?_" Hanner cried. "Oh, come on! That's completely unfair!"

"I'm pretty sure he doesn't care about that, Hanner," said Mario.

"Whatever! This just means we can pound him even more!" Goomblaine snarled, not looking concerned. He raced back into the battle, the others reluctantly following after him.

The battle continued, but while Mario and the others were fighting like a true team, it still wasn't enough. Whenever Toxic Bulbin got low on energy, he'd just walk under the tank and recover his energy with another spray of poison. This happened again and again, and no matter how hard they tried, Mario's team just couldn't seem to get an edge on him.

"This ain't workin', Mario," Snatchel groaned after a long while. "Whenever we bang 'im up, he just goes and heals himself!"

"I know… you're right," Mario sighed, fighting back exhaustion as he swayed on his feet. If only they could get rid of that tank somehow, Bulbin would be defenseless – but there was no possible way they could reach it safely.

He felt his shoulders sagging in defeat. "It's useless. We can't do this."

"Maybe not – but _we _can!"

Mario's head jerked up. "What the – "

Suddenly there came a loud, creaking groan from the tank. It took Mario a moment to realize that it was tipping over.

"Holy cow! Get back, everybody!" he cried as he grabbed Stubba, who was closest to him, and scrambled backwards. Everyone else yelped in alarm and did likewise, and not a moment too soon. The tank fell over on its side with a crash that shook the whole floor, spilling the poison out and leaving it completely unusable.

Standing on the side of the tank were at least a dozen of the citizens of Viney Valley, led by Pollena and Fidela T.

"Hello!" Pollena sang cheerfully as they all hopped off and ran to join Mario. "I hope we're not too late!"

Mario stared at them. "What in the – what are you all doing here?"

"We followed you," Fidela said simply. "You were right about us, Mario… we've been having problems, but that's because we couldn't bring ourselves to face them head on."

Mario blinked. "Oh… I…"

"Yeah! And when we saw you guys going off to the factory by yourselves, we knew we couldn't sit back and let a bunch of complete strangers fight our battles for us!" said another Dayzee, shaking his head vehemently. "No way! You really got through to us, Mario. We're not taking this anymore! We're helping you save Viney Valley!"

"So where's Maizee so we can tear her a new one!" Pollena said angrily.

Maizee frowned. "I'm right here."

Pollena turned and stared at her. "Uh… you're… what?"

Mario sighed. "Guys, she's with us, okay?" he said. "I know it doesn't make sense, but we'll explain later. Just help us deal with Bulbin right now."

Bulbin was not pleased about this. And he was not at _all _pleased that he'd just lost his only means of healing himself. He let out a furious roar, causing the new arrivals to spin around and get a good look at him for the first time.

"EEK! What happened to him?" Pollena cried.

"Nothin' that a good butt-whoopin' can't fix," Goomblaine growled, charging forward to attack. Everyone else followed after him, fueled with confidence now that Bulbin was on his last legs.

The giant Bub-ulb roared at them in a rage, but they weren't afraid of him anymore. Maizee led the attack as she unleashed a devastating Lullaby, disorienting and confusing him but making him even angrier in the process. Hanner and Stubba fought with their weapons, Goomblaine jumped on him, Snatchel rammed into him, and Dulia threw up a Plasma Shield whenever he attempted to attack one of her friends.

Mario just did what he did best and gripped his hammer, swinging it at Bulbin and striking him clear across the face. And finally, it seemed to do the trick.

Bulbin started swaying, breaking off his attacks on the group and going cross-eyed as he struggled to remain standing. Mario and his friends quickly backed safely out of the way, watching as he staggered and stumbled before finally falling over and crashing down onto the grate.

The team watched him warily until they realized he wasn't going to attack them anymore, then finally relaxed a little.

"…I guess this means… we beat him," Hanner finally said.

"Thank goodness," Stubba sighed. "That was _really_ scary."

"I'll say… I was really worried there for a while," Dulia agreed.

Mario was still looking at Bulbin. He was lying on his side, completely exhausted and seemingly unable to get back up. In fact, he looked totally helpless now. He could only glare at Mario and the others, and he couldn't do a thing to defend himself.

Mario looked at him in disgust. _After everything he's done, and now he's powerless. He's completely pathetic. _

"Okay, guys… let's finish him." He grabbed his hammer and was about to step forward, when suddenly he thought of something and quickly stopped.

"On second thought… Maizee, why don't you do the honors."

All the other partners nodded, looking eager to finally see Bulbin come to justice. Maizee, on the other hand, looked shocked as she saw the others watching her expectantly. She instantly lost what confidence she'd had, looking completely unsure of what to do.

Her gaze went back and forth between Bulbin and the others… and then finally, she lowered her head and shook it.

"No. I won't do it."

Everyone looked at her in surprise. "But Maizee, we – "

Maizee shook her head again and Mario fell silent. "I hate Bulbin for what he almost made me become, Mario. It was bad enough that I had to fight you all those times… but I could never bring myself to hurt someone if they couldn't defend themselves. I'm certainly not going to finish him now… not when he's like this."

She turned to glare at him. "You hear me, Bulbin? I'm sparing you. Maybe this way you'll have a chance to do something good with yourself."

For a moment, Bulbin just glared silently at her, his sides heaving as he struggled to breathe. It was unclear whether or not he even understood her.

But in the end it didn't matter. Whatever offer she had given him, he rejected it.

He surprised everyone with a deafening roar as he summed the last of his energy and threw himself at her. Maizee gasped and everyone screamed, but she couldn't get out of the way in time –

And then the floor gave out.

"ACK!" Hanner cried, her hands flying to her mouth. Bulbin's attempt to weaken the floor had worked after all, and it bent and broke underneath him. Maizee watched in terror as he plummeted down, and finally a loud _splash _from the bottom floor told everyone he'd made it all the way down.

"_No!_"

Mario and the others hanged back nervously as Maizee dashed over to the place where he'd fallen, a horrified look in her eyes. Everyone was deathly silent as she peered over the edge of the floor.

For a long moment she was silent… and then her shoulders sagged.

"He's… he's gone," was all she said.

Mario exchanged a look with his partners. They looked stunned, frightened, or upset… but none of them look happy.

Finally he walked up to Maizee and put a hand on her shoulder. "Maizee… don't feel bad. It wasn't your fault."

She nodded, though she didn't turn to face him. "I know, Mario…"

Now everyone else was staring down as well. "I can't believe that guy was our _mayor_," Pollena said with a shudder. "That's so totally freaky."

"_I _can't believe none of us ever realized what he was truly like," Fidela sighed. "If only we'd all been wiser, we could have prevented this."

"Yeah, you chumps are all total morons," Goomblaine agreed wholeheartedly. Mario glared at him and was about to open his mouth to give him a reprimand –

When he was cut off by the floor beginning to shake.

Everyone froze up. "Oh great… what's going on?" Mario groaned.

"Oh no…" said Maizee, peering over the edge of the floor again. "When Bulbin fell, he… the impact must have caused the entire factory to start to collapse! Everyone, we have to leave or we'll all be crushed!"

"EEEEEEEEK! EVERYBODY RUN!" Pollena shrieked, running out the door as the rumbling grew stronger. Everyone else started screaming in panic and followed after her, and Mario was about to do the same, when –

_The Sun Soul!_

He spun around, and sure enough, the Sun Soul was now floating a few inches off the ground where Bulbin had stood, forgotten amidst the chaos. He panicked and started running over to it, ignoring everyone else fleeing in the opposite direction.

"Mario! What are you doing?" Hanner cried.

"Mario, we have to get out of here _now!_" Maizee shouted at him.

"But – but the Sun Soul!" Mario protested desperately. "We can't leave without – "

He was cut off as an enormous pipe suddenly crashed to the ground directly in front of him, hissing violently and spewing out steam. He cried out and staggered backwards, desperately trying to make out the Sun Soul through the cloud of steam…

But it was useless. He was too late. There wasn't a thing he could do, except watch in anguish as more and more twisted hunks of metal began crashing down around him. He was so upset he hardly even noticed Snatchel grabbing him by the wrist and hauling him out the door in the last instant before the entire ceiling caved in.

The next several minutes were a complete blur. Mario's team, and everyone from Viney Valley, fled backwards through the factory as fast as they possibly could, even as they were surrounded by deafening crashes and hisses and the whole building started collapsing around them. Stubba was wailing and sobbing in fright as Hanner desperately pulled him along, and Goomblaine was callously shoving everyone out of the way as he struggled to get ahead.

"Everyone follow me! I know how to get out of here!" came Maizee's voice from somewhere near the front of the group, but all the smoke and steam was making it impossible for Mario to see where she was. He groped blindly along, trying to follow everyone's voice as they scrambled down one, two, three flights of stairs.

"Guys! Wait for me!" he shouted as he ran, though he was sure nobody could hear him. Now red lights were flashing and alarms were blaring. "Please wait! I – "

Before he even made it to the bottom floor, the constant rumbling suddenly erupted into a violent lurch, throwing Mario off his feet and sending him tumbling head-over-heels down the stairs and crashing to the ground.

"Oh…" he groaned, weakly lifting his head up and looking around frantically. He couldn't see anybody else… they couldn't have left him, could they? They had to realize he was gone!

"Guys! Where are you? Guys! I can't – "

Suddenly he felt himself being hauled to his feet.

"Wouldn't do to have you get lost in a place like this, would it?" came Fidela's voice from right next to him.

"C'mon, Mister Mario! We're almost there!" said Pollena.

So the three of them took off, charging over to the door that led outside and racing through the now-deserted courtyard. They ran back into the front part of the factory, where the rest of the group was still fighting to make their way through.

"This is _ridiculous!_" Hanner shouted, frantically swinging her hammer at a group of Poison Puffs that were trying to block off their escape.

"Mario! You're here!" Stubba cried in relief as he saw the plumber approach.

"Yeah, I'm here," said Mario, quickly pulling out his hammer. "Now let's take care of this."

By the time he'd finished off all the Poison Puffs, they were almost out of time. The shaking was getting stronger and ceiling lights were beginning to fall to the ground as they ran, shattering and sending up sparks. Maizee continued to lead the way as they ran frantically through the maze of conveyor belts, which were starting to malfunction and send up smoke. Mario was completely blinded, not knowing how close they were, whether they would make it or not, whether this was the end…

_**Trickleback River**_

_**2:59 am**_

And then finally they reached the front door and came charging out. Mario felt the cold outside air hit him in the face as they raced across the stone bridge to the other side of the lake without looking back, only stopping when they were as far away as possible.

As Mario paused to catch his breath, he suddenly heard a series of deafening crashes coming from behind him. His partners drew closely together in fear, watching the spectacle. Mario turned around in time to see the entire building come crashing down on itself, the upper floors collapsing into the lower ones and the smokestacks crumbling to the ground…

He winced, closing his eyes and covering his ears. There was one horrible crash… and then it was over.

Slowly, cautiously, he opened his eyes. Everyone gazed out at the place where the Poisoned Factory once stood. Now it was nothing more than an enormous, sprawling pile of metal and rubble, beyond repair and without the capacity to harm anyone ever again.

"It's… it's gone," Dulia said quietly. "The whole thing is gone."

Maizee stared at it for a long moment before bowing her head solemnly. "And may that be the last we ever hear of it," she sighed.

"Uh… we're not gonna have to pay for this, are we?" Pollena asked uneasily.

Hearing her voice made Mario remember what else he'd been meaning to say. He walked over to the citizens of Viney Valley, who were all crowded together.

"You guys saved us," he addressed them with a broad smile. "Thank you."

"Oh, you're welcome!" Pollena chirruped happily. Fidela just rolled his eyes at her.

"We're the ones who should be thanking you, Mario," said the Toad. "If you and your friends hadn't come along… well, we'd all be goners. But Viney Valley's saved now, thanks to you."

Mario's smile suddenly fell from his face as he remembered something. "Yeah, but…" He felt his heart sink. "We still didn't get what we came here for." He gazed sadly at his partners. "The Sun Soul… we couldn't save it…"

Pollena suddenly brightened up even more. "Oh! You mean this thing?"

And she reached behind herself and pulled it out, holding it out for Mario to see. The plumber (and Fidela) stared at her in shock.

"But – but we – how'd _you _get that thing?"

"Beats me," she said with a shrug. "But if you want it, go ahead and take it, Mister Mario! You totally deserve it!"

Fidela sighed. "She's right, Mario," he said. "We all owe you our lives. This thing is the very least you deserve."

Finally Mario decided not to question it and just shook his head. "Thank you, guys," he said graciously, walking up and taking the Sun Soul from Pollena. "But as a matter of fact, I'm not the one you should be giving it to."

Without another word, he turned around and opened his hands. By now glowing fiercely and brilliantly, the Sun Soul floated away from him…

His other partners smiled and stepped backwards as they saw it… but Maizee, who was staring at it with wide eyes, was frozen in place.

"Mario…? What's… what's going on?" she asked timidly, entranced by its glow. "This is your Sun Soul, but… what is it doing over here? Over… with me…"

And then she seemed to understand.

"No… no, it can't be…"

"Oh, _sure _it can!" Dulia giggled. "You're the nicest person we ever met, Maizee! You're gonna be the best Guardian ever!"

"Isn't that something?" Mario said with an ironic smile. "You told us you wanted all the Sun Souls for yourself… and this one belonged to you the whole time."

Maizee just stared at him. "But… but you can't possibly… no. No, there must be some mistake. I don't deserve an honor like this."

"Maizee. I can't think of _anyone _more deserving than you," said Mario, meaning every word of it.

"Yeah, and it's not like you have a choice. You're one of us whether you like it or not," Hanner said with an evil grin.

Maizee was almost completely overcome. She felt the tears welling up as she stared at the Sun Soul that was floating expectantly in front of her, aware of everyone watching her. This couldn't possibly be true… and yet…

Realizing it was what they were waiting for, she reluctantly reached out and took the Sun Soul in her hands… and she was immediately hit with the indescribable joy that was beaming out of it now that they were finally together…

Finally she was able to look back up at Mario and his friends… _her _friends.

"Oh… Mario…" she managed through her tears. "I swear to you, I'll work every minute to earn your trust in me. I'll never leave your side again. I promise."

"Aw geez, _lighten up _already, would ya? We all love you and stuff," said Hanner, giving her a hug.

"Hey everybody… look up there," Snatchel suddenly said, pointing up at the sky.

Everyone looked up where he was pointing and gasped. Now that the factory was gone, the dark, stifling clouds that had covered up the sky this whole time were finally beginning to dissipate. All of a sudden, everything was becoming bright and clear again, and the brilliant stars were shining down, lighting up the world around them.

"Wow… _look _at all the stars," Stubba said quietly, craning his head up as he gazed in fascination at the enormous sky. "They're so pretty."

Maizee was smiling. "And they wouldn't be here now if it weren't for all of you. Thank you, Mario… thank you, _everyone._"

Mario just gave her a nod. "Now let's go find your son," he said as the final traces of cloud and smoke left the sky… and for the first time in ages, the stars shone on Viney Valley.

_**Mario found the Eve Soul! His Star Power is now 5! With Maizee's help, he can now use the special move, Clean Sweep!**_

**~END OF CHAPTER~**

_The fifth Sun Soul had been hidden deep within the deadly Poisoned Factory… but Mario successfully put an end to the horrible place, saving the town of Viney Valley from a cruel fate. It would not be long before Viney Valley was restored to its former beauty… but what lies in store for Mario now? With only one Sun Soul now remaining, what new dangers await our hero? _

_**To Be Continued…**_

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**A/N: **Wow, BOTH my stories just featured the heroes running out of a collapsing building. XD

Yes, I know this was a really dark chapter, but I hope that didn't detract you guys too much… this chapter really meant a lot to me, as you maybe could tell. But in any case, the next one will be much more lighthearted and probably much more Paper Mario-esque. Hope to see you then!


	36. Chapter 5 Interlude

**A/N: **I HATE HIATUSES! DON'T YOU?

Seriously though, I've been going through withdrawal from this story. I've been depressed. Which should tell you how hellbent I am on finishing this thing, even if it ends my game. (But hopefully it won't.)

––––

_**The Temple of the Sun**_

_**00:00**_

"Well, we certainly have been waiting up here a long time," Peach sighed, pacing back and forth around the large room. "I just hate that we have no way of knowing what Mario's up to while we're in here."

"I sure hope he got out of that factory all right," Luigi muttered, sitting on the Aeon Clock and gazing at his hands. "That place sounded just plain spooky."

Peach briefly stopped pacing and gazed worriedly out the window. "You're right, Luigi… oh, I'm so worried about him. What if he got into more trouble than he could handle this time?"

"Now, Princess Peach and Master Luigi, we mustn't lose hope," Toadsworth said firmly. "After all, Master Mario has gotten through worse scuffles than this in the past. I only wish we had some idea of when to go back downstairs and start investigating again."

Peach was about to open her mouth to respond, when suddenly she was interrupted by a very loud crash coming from somewhere downstairs.

Luigi jumped in fright. "What in the – what was that?"

All three of them quickly crouched down in front of the huge clock and tried to listen. After a few more crashes that sounded suspiciously like expensive things being broken, they thought they could hear a very familiar Master of Night roaring something in fury.

Peach turned to the others. "Well… now's as good a time as any."

And so they opened up the passage and walked quickly and quietly down the stairs. They reached the bottom and peered into the hallway, and thankfully King Shroude was currently too enraged to even notice them.

"What do you _mean _you didn't go after Mario?" he bellowed at Jaff, who had the bad luck to be cowering underneath him at that very moment. "You _knew _he was heading for the Poisoned Factory and you did _nothing _about it? Have you not learned yet that Mario is _never _to be left unsupervised after everything he's done?"

"But – but it was your order, my lord!" Jaff pleaded, looking very unsure of himself for once. "You said yourself we shouldn't risk – "

"Don't be ridiculous. I gave no such order," Shroude barked at him. After fighting to contain his anger for a long moment, he finally drew back and sighed. "Oh, fine… I'll just have to roll with the punches, I suppose. I'm certain you three would have failed against him anyway."

Jaff winced at his words but said nothing, just looking guilty.

"Wow… I almost feel sorry for that guy," Luigi muttered.

"_I _don't," Peach said firmly.

"Now then, Jaff. If you're correct and Mario has found the Eve Soul, then things have just gotten very bad for you indeed. This is your _last _chance to stop Mario before… well, anyway. I'd rather discuss this where I'm _certain _no one can hear us."

After glancing around, he grabbed Jaff and pulled him down the hallway, stopping in front of a very ornate door near the end and pulling it open. He shoved Jaff through before walking in himself, then slammed the door shut behind him.

The instant he was gone, Peach and the others ran into the hallway.

"Come on, you two!" Peach cried, pulling Luigi along by the wrist. "They're probably talking about where the last Sun Soul is! We _have _to get in there and listen!"

"I get it, I get it!" Luigi panted.

As soon as they arrived at the door, though, all three of them deflated in disappointment. They had no way of getting in; it was latched shut by not one, not two, but _four _locks.

"Oh, dear," Toadsworth sighed. "He must be taking extra precautions after we've been gallivanting about all this time."

"He's smarter than he looks," Peach groaned. "Well, this is no good… now what do we do?"

"Zzzzz… Sniff-snort… huh-wha? Who are you guys?"

Peach, Luigi and Toadsworth turned in surprise and found themselves looking at someone they hadn't even noticed before. A rather overweight Darkstrider was sitting against the wall on the other side of the door, and it was clear he'd been asleep until just a moment ago.

"Hey… you guys are the prisoners, right?" he slurred. "Uh, you're not supposed to be down here, I think. Uh, yeah. I should probably report you guys."

Peach frowned at him, not feeling very intimidated. "I'm afraid not, mister… what's your name?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm Dorr. Get it? I'm called that 'cause I guard the door. Pretty clever, right?"

"Genius," Peach grumbled. "Anyway, mister Dorr, we need to find out where that last Sun Soul is, and I'm sorry, but you're not stopping us."

"Yeah, what she said," Luigi added, not sounding as confident.

In response, Dorr just stood up and stretched a little. "Uh, sorry guys, but that's not gonna happen. King Shroude has me guarding the keys that open this door. I mean, I guess if you could figure out which key goes in which lock, then maybe you could get in. But King Shroude says he's the only one smart enough around here to figure that out."

"I'm not surprised. You Darkstriders aren't the brightest bunch," Peach said frankly. "But I'm sure we can figure out your little puzzle. Just try us."

Dorr just shrugged. "Yeah, whatever."

Peach blinked as he pulled out a ring of four different keys. They all looked ancient and ornate, and each one was colored differently: one red, one yellow, one green, one blue.

"Okay. You get three hints. If you can figure it out on the first try, you can go in," he said nonchalantly. "Otherwise, I'm gonna have to give you a beatdown. Or something."

"Just give us the hints," Peach snapped.

"HINT NUMBER ONE!" he shouted with a sudden fervor, causing Peach and the others to jump back in shock. "The blue key doesn't go on the bottom! HINT NUMBER TWO! The yellow key goes between the green and blue keys! HINT NUMBER THREE! The red key goes third from the top! Got all that?"

Peach was stunned. "Uh… I think so. Hang on…"

She drew back and conferred with the other two for a moment. After running it over they decided they had the right order, and Peach turned back to Dorr with a determined look.

"All right, give me the keys."

Dorr just shrugged and handed them over. Peach stuck the keys in the locks, from top to bottom: Blue, yellow, red and green.

She, Luigi and Toadsworth beamed as all the locks clicked.

Dorr looked pretty unconcerned. "Huh. That was pretty good. Okay, whatever, you can go. But we're gonna take over your world and stuff, just so you know." And he sauntered off without another word.

"Good minions are hard to find, it would seem," Toadsworth remarked. Peach just shook her head and pulled the door open ever so slightly and she, Luigi and Toadsworth peered through the crack.

King Shroude was standing in meeting room, which was similar to the one where Luigi had met Rizz for the first time. Jaff and Rizz were standing on either side of him and were glaring at each other in utter contempt; it was only being in the presence of their king that kept them from tearing each other's throats out right there.

"Now listen, you two," the Master of Night said sternly. "I've called both of you here because this matter with Mario has reached a critical point. With every Sun Soul he has stolen from us, he has grown in power. Now he only has _one _left to recover, because the two of you have failed to stop him at every turn. This is unforgivable."

Jaff shook his head desperately. "My lord, Mario hasn't beaten us yet!" he insisted. "My team has been holding back until now. We've underestimated Mario and his friends, but it won't happen again! To keep him from finding the Dusk Soul, we shall attack him with all our might!"

Shroude nodded in agreement. "That's right. You will."

Jaff briefly paused, then blinked in surprise. "Wait… you agree?"

"Yes. In fact, I'm sending every Darkstrider in this temple after Mario. No more games. It's time to attack him with all our fury, so that he may understand our true strength. And _you _are going to be leading them."

Jaff grew an excited look and nodded eagerly. "Thank you, my lord! I swear I shall work to earn this great honor!"

Rizz frowned. "And what am I supposed to do in the meantime?"

Shroude turned to her. "I was talking to you too, Rizz. When I said you would be leading the assault, I meant _both _of you. You're going to be working together."

There was a very laden silence.

"_WHAT?_" both Darkstriders finally exploded.

"Absolutely out of the question!" Rizz snarled, bristling. "I refuse to work with this incompetent fool!"

"Rizz, your track record against Mario has been no better than Jaff's," Shroude reminded her. "Frankly I expected it of him, but I had much higher hopes for you."

Rizz stared up at him in horror. Jaff, while delighted by the look on her face, wasn't any happier about this arrangement than she was.

"My lord, I don't need her help! My team has this completely under control!"

Shroude gave him an unimpressed look. "Is that so… remind me again, Jaff. _Where _did your team hide the Dusk Soul? Surely it must be someplace even more dangerous than the Poisoned Factory, correct?"

Jaff suddenly looked mortified, realized he'd been led straight into a trap. As Rizz looked expectantly at him, he lowered his gaze to the floor and spoke so quietly it was hard to hear him.

"…The… the Seashell Hotel, my lord."

After staring at him for a moment, Rizz burst out laughing.

"A _hotel! _The final Sun Soul, our last stand against Mario's forces, and you hide it in a _hotel? _Oh, you never cease to amuse me, Jaff."

"It's not just _any _hotel!" Jaff screamed desperately. "The Seashell Hotel is famous for its size! It's one of the crowning achievements of architecture in Chronoside, even larger than our fortress! And we hid it on the very top floor!" He turned wistfully to Shroude. "My lord, trust me when I say it was the safest place in the region to hide the Sun Soul from Mario."

Shroude merely shrugged. "You may be right. But it doesn't change the fact that you'll be working with Rizz this time. Finding the Sun Soul in a place like that would be difficult enough on its own… but with a full army of Darkstriders at our cause, Mario doesn't stand a chance."

He nodded in satisfaction. "Now then. You two, go rally the forces and prepare to move out… and do _not _fail me this time."

Jaff and Rizz nodded reluctantly, realizing he wouldn't be swayed. They prepared to leave before Shroude added one more thing.

"And don't forget," he said seriously, "I'm still not convinced either of the ones you two have found are worthy of guarding my greatest treasure… if you are wise, I'd suggest you continue testing them. Rizz, this may be the perfect opportunity for you to bring out that Magikoopa again."

"As you wish, my lord!" Rizz agreed. She and Jaff quickly vanished out of the room, and with that, Shroude began waving his scepter above his head and vanished right along with them.

Peach slowly drew away from the door and turned to look at her friends, wondering just what they thought of all this.

"So… the Seashell Hotel?" Toadsworth said thoughtfully. "Princess, isn't that one of the places you were blathering on about on the way here?"

"It certainly is!" Peach agreed, nodding furiously. "The Seashell Hotel is part of a very famous resort on Palmy Balmy Beach. It's normally a wonderful place to vacation, but… it sounds like the Darkstriders are going to make things difficult."

"Well, the good news is, Mario made it out of the factory all right," Luigi spoke up. "The bad news is, he's about to go up against about a hundred of those blue guys…"

Peach sighed and shook her head. "Come on, you two. We'd better go back upstairs before we're caught."

And so the three of them reluctantly turned around and trudged back up the stairs, deciding there was nothing else they could do now except wait. Peach was starting to feel very weary as they reached the top.

_Oh, Mario… things just keep getting worse out there for you. Please get out of this okay… I just want all this madness to be over… so I can see you again._

––

––

_**Soluna Town**_

_**12:00 Noon**_

"BACK! BACK, YOU VILE BEAST!" cried a very valiant (or possibly very stupid) Koopa who was currently throwing a bunch of empty cans at Bowser. "I won't have you defiling our precious town any longer! Stay back, I tell you!"

Bowser wasn't even paying attention to him, the cans glancing off him like they were nothing. "Sheesh, where are those blue guys, anyway? They're totally late! I'm getting bored out of my skull here!"

Finally the Koopa gave up his attempt and just ran for his life. Bowser kept on walking until he arrived at the area near the center of town where the Star Pedestal was located, surrounded by park benches.

"Well, whatever. I guess I can just chill while I'm waiting for them," he decided. He promptly flopped down onto one of the benches, only for it to instantly shatter under his weight and send him to the ground with a thud.

He glared down at the pile of timber beneath him. "Sheesh. Shoddy workmanship."

"King Bowser! There you are!"

Bowser glanced over his shoulder and found Jaff, Pell and Nobb glaring up at him. "Hmph. About time you wusses got here. I'm a busy man, you know!"

"Well, King Bowser, it would be much _easier _to find you sooner if you weren't constantly moving around," Jaff growled in exasperation. "Now perhaps you will start taking this seriously when I tell you that you are about to receive the final test."

That did get Bowser's interest.

"Woah! Are you kidding? _Finally!_" he laughed. "Geez, took you losers long enough! Guess your king finally caught wind of how totally awesome I am, right?"

"We'll see about that. As I'm sure you are aware, King Bowser, this final test is the most important of all. While you have proven that you are without a doubt strong enough to defeat Mario, our lord must still be assured of your loyalty to him."

Bowser blinked. "Huh?"

"Yeah! We can't have you go off wailin' on Mario without his say-so," Pell agreed. "If you're gonna work for King Shroude, you gotta go by the book."

"If you fail this test, then King Shroude will see to it that you are not allowed within a _mile _of Mario, under any circumstances. By force if necessary," Jaff said in a low voice, as serious as ever. "Do we make ourselves clear?"

Bowser frowned at the three Darkstriders before finally rolling his eyes. "Fine. I get it. So what's the big test then, huh?"

"Simply this."

And then Jaff suddenly grabbed Bowser by the wrist and hauled him to the ground.

Bowser had to resist howling in pain as some horrible agony suddenly exploded through him. Jaff was doing something to him, focusing all his power into his grip… Bowser's whole arm was going numb with icy cold as the Darkstrider dug his nails into his wrist… everything was going foggy and there seemed to be a chorus of distant screams filling the air…

"Do you swear on your very life that you will serve our lord without question, no matter the cost to yourself?" Jaff roared at him in a voice that seemed to be amplified a thousand times. Bowser couldn't even tell where he was anymore… all he could see was blurry images and smoke… so much smoke…

"Y… yeah! Yeah, I do!" he groaned. It was an impossible effort just to get the words out.

"Do you swear that you will never subvert the wishes of our lord and never pursue an agenda against his, under penalty of death?" Jaff went on, his voice drowning out every other sound.

Oh, what was going on? Why was it so hard to even open his mouth? Bowser was doubling over in pain… there seemed to be a demonic wind whipping around him, coming from nowhere…

"Yes! Yes already!"

"Do you swear that you have the ability to carry out any wish our lord asks of you? That you have not lied about your strength, understanding that failure or weakness will carry the same penalty as treachery?"

If Bowser hadn't been so set on beating Mario once and for all, he wouldn't have had the strength to speak anymore. But he was, and he did.

"YES! NOW MAKE IT STOP!"

And then, amongst the icy wind and smoke and fog, against the screams that may or may not have even been there, Jaff nodded.

"Only those with true ability could have passed that test. Congratulations, King Bowser."

And with that, he released his grip on Bowser. Just like that, the word suddenly returned to normal around the Koopa King, who instantly collapsed to the ground, gasping in exhaustion.

"With that, you have passed the final test. You have proven yourself worthy of serving our lord," Jaff said calmly as Bowser struggled to collect himself. Geez, what had those freaks just _done _to him?

"Uh… okay, fine," he wheezed, staggering to his feet. "I guess that wasn't so bad… now you guys gotta hold up your end of the bargain! Now I finally get to wail on Mario, right? Just point me in the right direction! I'll maul that plumber into next week!"

"Not so fast. As I was saying, you will be granted the opportunity to battle Mario… _if _the need arises. But I must tell you, it will not."

Bowser's smile instantly fell. "What? What are you talking about, ugly? I thought we had a deal!"

"The deal has been altered. We're about to catch Mario off guard at his next destination and lay a full-fledged assault against him, with all our numbers." He smirked. "If, by some unthinkable miracle, he manages to _defeat _us there, then we will have failed in all our efforts and the task of defeating him must fall to you."

He took a few steps backward, along with Pell and Nobb. "But like I said… that won't happen."

Bowser stared at them with his jaw hanging open, and before he could even protest they had already surrounded themselves in smoke and vanished out of the air.

After a long moment Bowser finally found his voice.

"What the _heck? _COME BACK HERE, YOU COWARDS! NOBODY DUPES KING BOWSER!"

He stomped over to where they had been standing, whipping his head around furiously to try and find them, but of course they were long gone.

Finally he couldn't contain himself any longer and just threw his head back and roared. "GRAAAAWWW! I _HATE _THIS COUNTRY!"

––––

**A/N: **With any luck the post chapter will be up in a few days too, since a) you guys had to wait so freakin' long and b) I want to churn out as much as I possibly can before Paper Mario 3DS hits this story with a canonball. (Heh, get it? Canon-ball? *banned for life*)


	37. Post Chapter 5

_**Viney Valley**_

_**2:00 am**_

When Mario arrived back at the village with everyone else, he was completely amazed at what he found.

It couldn't have been more than half an hour since they'd destroyed the factory, and yet Viney Valley was already visibly recovered. The flowers were all becoming bright and healthy, the grass was full and green, and even the people who had been sick before were all looking better. The villagers were all gazing around in complete awe at the unexplained transformation that was coming over their home; finally, the village was back to the breathtaking and beautiful place it was supposed to be.

Mario decided there must really have been something magical to this place after all.

"Oh my goodness…" Maizee breathed, looking around in reverence. "I'm back… I'm really back… it's been such a long time…"

Unfortunately, the mood was quickly ruined.

"Hey! Is that – "

"It _is! _It's Maizee!"

"Oh no," Mario groaned. A bunch of angry-looking villagers had suddenly caught sight of them, momentarily forgetting about the miracle happening around them and glaring at Maizee.

"What do you think you're doing here?" a Toad snapped as they all began marching purposefully over to her. "You dare show yourself here again? Haven't you caused us enough pain?"

Mario was about to come to her defense, but Stubba beat him to it.

"Hey! You leave her _alone!_" he snapped, stepping defensively in front of her and causing all the villagers to stop in surprise. "She's not a bad guy!"

"Yeah! Your jerk of a mayor was the one behind all this, not her!" Hanner agreed angrily.

The villagers all stared at them. "What? What are you talking about?" the Toad demanded.

"Guys, you might not believe this, but Maizee was framed for everything," Mario spoke up. "Bulbin was the one poisoning the river, and he's gone."

The villagers all glanced at each other, wondering what to make of this.

"Maizee, are they telling the truth?" the Toad finally snapped. "Defend yourself!"

But Maizee wasn't even listening to him. She wasn't paying attention to any of them. Her worried gaze was traveling across the village as she desperately searched for something… the most important thing in the world…

And then she saw him.

"Oh no… oh, Daymien!"

And she shoved the Toad out of the way and ran over to him. Completely dumbfounded, Mario and the other partners quickly followed after her. He was lying in a completely different place than he'd been in Dayside… no wonder they hadn't seen him there…

Maizee raced over to where her son was lying unconscious against a moss-covered log. Unlike the others who had been sick before, he didn't look any better. In fact, Mario couldn't even tell if he was breathing…

Were they too late?

"Oh, Daymien…" Maizee sobbed, crouching down next to him. "Daymien… Daymien… please… I'm so sorry…"

Mario and the others stood back and watched, all looking horrified and silently pleading for it to not be true. With all of a mother's tenderness, Maizee reached out and brushed Daymien's wilting petals out of his face as the frightened tears fell from her eyes. There were no words she could say in the face of something like this. All she could do was whisper his name over and over, as though she were begging…

It wasn't the first miracle Mario had ever seen. But it was the one he would always remember.

Daymien suddenly groaned and screwed up his face… and with some effort, he opened his eyes.

Maizee's hands flew to her mouth as he stared up at her, looking very confused.

"Oh, Daymien! _Daymien!_" she cried, and then she completely broke down. She threw her arms around him and pulled him in close to her, absolutely bawling, and there was no force in the world that could have made her let go.

"M-Mom?" Daymien stammered. He quickly returned the hug, but he was looking very bewildered. "I… I was… you were gone for a long time, weren't you?" He looked up at her. "I… I think I was really sick… I don't remember very much."

Maizee finally drew back from him a little so she could gaze into his eyes. "Oh, Daymien… don't worry about it. You're all right now… we both are."

She sat there holding him for a long time, and while she didn't say anything, the one time she glanced up at Mario her eyes very clearly said to him, _Thank you._

––

Naturally the group ended up staying in Viney Valley for a while after that. Mario wanted to make sure the village was really back on its feet before they left, and he still felt he had to convince the rest of the villagers that Maizee had been innocent, as if her reunion with Daymien hadn't been proof enough. And of course, he didn't want to pull the two of them apart just yet.

So he and his other partners ending up telling the village everything that had happened to them in the factory, clearing the matter up once and for all. Fidela and Pollena backed them up, and Daymien came to his mother's defense, insisting that there was no way she would ever do what they were accusing her of. It took a while, but finally everyone was convinced of their story, and of course, they all apologized to Maizee very profusely. She was surprisingly good-natured about it, but Mario supposed that was just who she was.

"Hey, Mario!" Dulia called him over a few hours later while everyone in the group had been off relaxing on their own. "Don't you think while we're waiting, we should set those Lumas free? The Star Pedestal's right over here!"

"Nice thinking, Dulia. I completely forgot about that," Mario agreed, walking over to the pedestal. "Gosh, we've sure got a lot, don't we?"

He summoned the rest of his team over and then brought Maizee forward. She looked very confused and astonished when he explained what was about to happen, and she watched in amazement as he placed one of the Lumas on the pedestal and it began to twirl around, engulfing her in a stream of brilliant sparkles.

_Maizee was upgraded to Super Rank! She can now use Pollen Storm to make all enemies dizzy!_

"Oh, my… that was something," she laughed after the Luma had vanished. "Mario, you really are full of surprises, aren't you?"

"Yeah, and that's not the end of it, either," Mario said with a grin, pulling out the shiny red Ultra Stone from his pocket. "With this thing, we can upgrade each of you guys another time – and we've still got two more Lumas!"

He turned to his first two partners. "Goomblaine, Hanner, you guys up for it?"

Hanner cheered like a little kid and dashed forward while Goomblaine trudged up much more slowly. Mario pulled out the last two Lumas from his pocket and placed them on the pedestal one after the other. In return, Goomblaine and Hanner each got upgraded a second time, this time feeling even more powerful!

_Goomblaine was upgraded to Ultra Rank! He can now use Intimidate to prevent enemies from fleeing!_

_Hanner was upgraded to Ultra Rank! She can now use Volt Hammer to attack all enemies with an electric blast!_

"Awesome, awesome, _awesome!_" Hanner cheered and spun around, while Goomblaine looked like he didn't care one bit. "Oh man, I can't wait to bust some heads now! Thanks, Mario!"

"Well, everybody on this team has been working so hard, it's the least I can do for you guys," Mario chuckled.

"Man, now I wanna get upgraded too," Stubba pouted.

The partners spent a while longer exploring the village while Mario made the final arrangements with the more important villagers, making sure they could handle things without the mayor. Finally, there was nothing keeping them from heading back to Soluna Town, and once again, Mario found one of his partners forced to sadly say goodbye to someone they loved.

"Wait… Mom, I don't get it," Daymien protested as they were preparing to go. "Why do you have to leave _again? _Is there something going on?"

"No, Daymien, everything's fine," Maizee promised him. "It's just… Mario needs me to come along with him for a while. He's taking care of some very important things… but don't worry. I'm not leaving you like that again. Not _ever_."

Hanner and Dulia both "_awwwww_"ed at that while Daymien frowned. "C'mon, Mom, you're embarrassing me."

"Oh, honey, it's my job to embarrass you," said Maizee, kissing him on the forehead.

And so finally, as Mario's team set off down the river and headed back the way they had come, Maizee found herself bidding farewell to Viney Valley for a second time… but this time, with hopes much higher than they had been the last.

They hadn't been walking along the river for more than a few minutes when she saw it. Something caught Maizee's attention from out of the very corner of her eye, and she turned around.

No one else noticed them, but she did. There were three very familiar Piranhas – but normal, not Putrid, and regular sized – frolicking on the opposite side of the river, looking happy and carefree as ever.

"You gonna be all right, Maizee?" Mario asked as she saw her staring off at something with wide eyes. She quickly turned and smiled at him.

"I think I am, Mario," she said. "For once, I really think I am."

––

––

_**Soluna Town**_

_**12:00 Noon**_

As the team emerged from the town sewers and found themselves back in Soluna Town proper, Mario let out a deep sigh of relief. The town was finally back to normal; everyone's water was running properly and the panic that had been engulfing the citizens was gone. In fact, everyone seemed to be celebrating the fact that the town was safe and sound again.

"Well, that's one crisis averted," the plumber decided. "Now we just need to worry about the megalomaniacal lord of Nighttime and everything will be great."

Just like Dulia had been, Maizee was beyond delighted to return to the Daytime world after so long; Mario supposed it had been even worse for her, being a flower who basically needed the sun to be healthy. She was in such a state of euphoria as she skirted around town that it finally took the combined efforts of Mario and Hanner to pull her over to Rodolfo's house.

"Oh, Mario! You're safe!" Peach cried the instant they walked through the door, racing over and squeezing the life out of him. "Luigi and Toadsworth and I have all been so worried! Don't _ever _scare us like that again!"

"Uh… right, sure thing," Mario managed to choke out through Peach crushing his ribs.

"And from the recent looks of things, all the water in Soluna Town is back to normal," said Rodolfo, striding up to them with a big smile on his face. "I can only assume this means your excursion was a success?"

"It sure was. Man, do we have a story for you guys…"

So after telling Rodolfo and the others all about their journey to the Poisoned Factory and what they had learned while they were there, Mario finally settled down to hear from Peach about where the final Sun Soul was being hidden.

"It better not be as big a pain as the _last _one," Goomblaine grunted.

"Oh, I don't think it will be," Peach said with a smile. "Mario, you'll never guess where the Dusk Soul is being hidden – the Seashell Hotel! Doesn't that sound wonderful?"

Mario looked at her blankly. "The where?"

Peach frowned. "Honestly, Mario. How can we chat about all these fun places if you haven't heard of any of them?"

"Ah, the Seashell Hotel, you say?" Rodolfo mused. "Quite an interesting choice. It certainly is the destination of all those who vacation at Palmy Balmy Beach."

Dulia beamed. "That place sounds like fun!"

"Well, it is a resort after all. I should hope it is!" the Doogan agreed, unfurling the map over the table and pointing out the one region of the country that Mario had yet to visit. Its main feature was miles and miles of sandy coastline bordered by the ocean.

"Yes, I do believe Palmy Balmy Beach is right over here. I suppose it was only a matter of time before you all went there. It's a five-star resort, the number one vacation spot for tourists!"

Mario started frowning. A beach resort? Why did he feel like he'd heard someone talk about that place before… oh well, it probably didn't matter.

"So… hang on, let me get this straight," he cut in. "The second-to-last Sun Soul was hidden inside an incredibly toxic and destructive factory that nearly killed all of us… and the _last _Sun Soul is hidden in a hotel on a beach?"

His team all exchanged looks.

"I guess the Darkstriders were running out of ideas," Hanner said with a lame shrug.

"Well, it's nothing to be complaining about," Rodolfo said decisively, rolling the map back up. "After all, there certainly isn't much danger that could arise from relaxing on a fancy beach! I daresay you've all earned a good vacation from all the hard work you've been doing."

"I guess it _will _be an awful nice break, huh?" Snatchel chuckled. "No fightin' baddies this time or nothin'!"

"Oh, I wish it were that simple," Mario sighed. "But if my adventures have taught me _anything_, it's that things that should be simple _never _are. Not even riding on a train."

"And let's not forget what happened the _last _time we tried to vacation on a beach," added Toadsworth, .looking amused at some memory. "Master Mario, do try not to get _arrested _this time, won't you?"

"Okay, can we all _shut up _now?" Goomblaine cut in, looking exasperated. "Geez, you guys gotta run your mouths off every time we come here? Let's just get out of here already!"

Mario frowned at him. "Well, Goomblaine, before we do anything we're going to have to figure out _how _we're getting to this beach… not to mention how we're ever getting inside that hotel. It sounds expensive."

"That's a very good point," Rodolfo sighed, looking pensive. "The Seashell Hotel caters to an extremely exclusive clientele. Frankly, I doubt you have the money _or _the status to be accepted in there. If only there were some way to – "

_CRASH!_

Rodolfo frowned deeply. "Must I _constantly _be interrupted mid-exposition?"

Mario was so startled he nearly jumped out of his chair. "What was that?"

He and his partners immediately raced outside, where the crash had come from. They weren't exactly prepared for what was waiting for them out there.

"…Why is there a beach van parked in the middle of the street?"

Sure enough, standing in the street right outside the door was a bright blue beach van decked out with all sorts of weird decals and with a surfboard strapped to the roof. It was earning a bunch of weird looks from everyone passing by, but Mario's attention was caught more by the apparent drivers of the van.

"Hang on… guys! Look who it is!"

Much to his surprise, crowded around the van and wearing expressions of concern were none other than the self-proclaimed famous Bumpty Boarders… or four of them, at least.

They immediately looked up and saw Mario. "Woah! Dude! It's the Mario dude!" cheered Brody, waddling up to the plumber excitedly along with the others. "What a most unexpected coincidence! Long time no see, dude!"

"Oh, great. Just great," Goomblaine moaned to himself, looking mortified.

"Good to see you guys again," Mario said with a grin. "But hey, aren't you missing somebody? Where's Ferdinand?"

"Oh, Ferdie's totally off taking one for the team, man," said Sheila. "Somebody had to stay behind and make sure we didn't miss out on the event of the century!"

"Being…"

"Dudes! It's only the grand re-opening of the most bodacious joint on the whole beach – the Seashell Hotel!" Nico exulted, waving his arms around for the dramatic effect. "We just gotta be there, man!"

Mario blinked. "Woah. Hang on. You guys are going to the Seashell Hotel? On Palmy Balmy Beach?"

"Now _that's _just contrived," Hanner griped.

"Aw, dudes, of course we're going to the Seashell Hotel!" Kane chuckled. "We hang there all the time! It's the only establishment righteous enough for us righteous Bumpty Boarders!"

"If you dudes and dudettes are headed there too, we'd totally be down with giving you a lift. Only… if we can't fix up Keilani here soon – " Brody patted the van. "We'll be beached here and miss the whole thing. Totally aggro."

Dulia was crouched down in front of the van, assessing it with a concerned look. "Gosh, what happened to this thing? It looks really banged up."

Brody shook his head sadly. "We had a most un-tubular accident, man. We hit a Spiny in the road a ways back, and now it looks like Keilani's down uno tire."

Mario got a good look at the van as well. "Hmm… you're right, you guys have got a flat. Looks pretty bad, too."

Goomblaine rolled his eyes. "Big deal. Why don't we just get Circus Freak here to turn into a spare?" he snorted, shoving Dulia in the side.

The Duplighost turned away from the van and glared at him. "Hey! That's _not _funny!"

"Goomblaine, we don't endanger each other's lives on this team," Mario said impatiently. "Well, anyway, it can't be too hard to find a spare tire around here, right Rodolfo?"

Rodolfo and the others had joined Mario's team outside while this had been going on, but the Doogan looked a little disheartened at Mario's question.

"Well Mario, I'm afraid Soluna Town doesn't deal extensively in automobiles," he admitted. "There is _one _place in town that may be able to help, but… it's very shady, from what I can tell you. And there is one other small problem."

"What?"

"Finding it."

Mario deflated. "Oh."

––

So they all went off by themselves and thoroughly explored the town in search of the mysterious establishment Rodolfo had mentioned. Mario wasn't able to cover much ground on his own, though, since most of the more well-hidden areas in town required the abilities of one of his partners to reach. He looked up and down the alleys and all over the main market square, but he had no luck.

"Mario! Mario, look!" came Stubba's voice a few minutes later. Mario turned to find the little Clubba racing over to him, looking very excited about something.

"Did you find the tire, Stubba?"

"Uh-uh. But look what I _did _find!" With an eager grin on his face, he pulled out another Luma. "Can I get upgraded too, Mario? Please?"

Mario looked a little dumbfounded before chuckling. "Well, when you ask so nicely, how can I say no?"

As they walked over to the Star Pedestal in the center of town, Mario couldn't help but notice one of the benches surrounding it was completely broken. He briefly wondered about it, but quickly shrugged it off as he placed the Luma on the pedestal and upgraded Stubba a second time.

_Stubba was upgraded to Ultra Rank! He can now use Shock Wave to confuse all enemies and flip shelled enemies!_

After the delighted Stubba scampered off, Mario kept on looking for the tire but was no more successful than he'd been before. He started to lose his patience, but as he was walking down a narrow alley on the edge of town that quickly changed.

"INCOMING!"

Mario started. "What the – YEOW!" he cried as someone suddenly crashed into him, sending him flipping into the air and landing back on the ground with a painful thud.

"_You come back here, you filthy miscreants! Give me back my property!_" came an unpleasant-sounding voice. Mario groaned and lifted his head up in time to see a very shady, dark-skinned man with a long crooked nose and brown robes come racing past the alley, missing his pursuees entirely.

"Okay, _what _is going on here?" Mario demanded, turning to find that the ones who'd crashed into him were none other than Snatchel and Maizee. Much to Mario's surprise, the sheriff was gripping a tire in his hands, exactly the kind they were looking for.

"Sorry about that, Mario," he sighed. "We were kinda in a hurry to get away from that creepy feller with the big nose."

"Yes, we ended up finding that shop. I'm fairly certain it's not legal," Maizee said frankly. "Anyway, he somehow got his hands on that tire, and he wasn't about to part with it for any sum of money, so…"

"You stole it?" Mario finished with a grin.

Maizee just shrugged. "Well, our sheriff here is much better at stealing than he lets on."

"Well heck, he probably stole it first! Besides, which one of us disabled that dang alarm system? I reckon yer in as deep as I am!" Snatchel retorted, giving her a mischievous look.

"Yes, you two are a couple of real criminal masterminds," said Mario, giving them a wink. "Now let's get this thing back to the van."

The group quickly regrouped back in front of the van, which was still sitting in the middle of the street and causing a bit of an inconvenience. The Bumpty Boarders were absolutely thrilled when Mario brought the tire over to them and wasted no time putting it in place.

"Dudes! Keilani, she lives again, man!" Brody cried joyfully once they were finished. "We're totally making record timeage back to Palmy Balmy Beach now! Nobody wipes out the Bumpty Boarders!"

"BUMPTY BOARDERS FOREVER!" they all cheered, hip-bumping and high-fiving all around.

"…Mario," said Peach, who was standing next to the plumber, "it seems to me that most of the people you meet on these adventures are… well, a little odd."

"That's putting it lightly," Mario grumbled.

"Hey, fellow dudes and dudettes! Climb aboard!" called Sheila, and Mario turned to see that the Bumpties were already piling into the van. "This party van is on a schedule for surfage and sandage, man!"

"Okay, okay. I'll see you later, Peach," said the plumber, giving her hand a quick squeeze before heading over to the van with his partners. Somehow they all managed to squeeze into the backseat area, although it wasn't exactly comfortable.

"Have fun, Mario!" Peach cried, waving to him as the Bumpty Boarders all cheered and started the van up. Mario quickly waved back as they pulled out of their parked position and finally headed down the street to the southeastern exit of Soluna Town.

Mario sighed and leaned back in his seat. He was certainly _hoping_ to have fun on the beach… but he knew better than to get his hopes up too high. His life was never, ever that simple…

––––

**A/N: **I love Maizee… ^_^ And our penguin buddies too! Hope you guys didn't forget them!

Also, what are your thoughts on the new Paper Mario 3DS trailer? I'm… a little worried about the lack of partners…


	38. Chapter 6, Part I

**Chapter 6:**

**A Hostel Takeover**

––

_**Palmy Balmy Beach**_

_**4:00 pm**_

"Mario Mario Mario! Wake up wake up wake up!"

"Zzzz… huh-wha?" Mario muttered, blinking his eyes open and then yelping as the van suddenly jerked to a stop, sending him lurching forward. It took him a moment to realize Stubba had just shaken him awake.

"We're here, Mario! Look!" the little Clubba cheered, pointing out the window.

"We sure are, little dude!" Brody chuckled from the driver's seat. "Last stop, Palmy Balmy Beach, dudes! All those who are disembarking, do so now, man!"

"All right, we finally made it!" said Hanner, throwing the door open and jumping out. Everybody else piled out after her and Mario finally got a good look around.

Palmy Balmy Beach was very wide, and very, _very _long. For as far as Mario could see, the pure white sandy coastline stretched along the ocean shore. The beach was absolutely flooded with people, whether they were swimming, lounging on the sand or running and playing. The ocean was a beautiful bluish-green hue with white-capped waves that continuously crashed onto the shore. The air was filled with not only excited voices, but strains of Caribbean music as well.

"Oh, _wow!_ This place looks like so much fun!" Dulia laughed eagerly, racing off a little ways to get a good look at the place. "I sure wish Benny and Gen were here for this…"

"You're telling me! A sunset beach and a fancy hotel? Why couldn't _all _the Sun Souls get hidden in places like this?" Hanner agreed, looking around right along with her. Mario had to agree as well. This place looked fantastic, especially considering the last place they'd had to go.

"Well, we'll catch you later, dudes," said Sheila, waving Mario's party off along with the other Bumpty Boarders. "We've got some major surfage to catch up on, but we totally hope to see you dudes around!"

"What? Now hang on, I'm pretty sure yer van's illegally parked," said Snatchel, pointing at it. Everyone looked at him. "What? Just doin' my job."

Mario rolled his eyes and smiled. "I think it'll be fine, Snatchel. This place looks pretty laid-back," he said, quickly ducking as he was nearly hit in the head with a frisbee.

"That it is, bro! Well, we'll see you dudes! Enjoy your stay!" said Nico, and the Bumpties all took off as Mario's team waved goodbye.

"All right. Well, first things first… let's look for the hotel, huh?" said Mario once they were gone.

"Yeah? Which one _is _it? There's tons of 'em," Goomblaine griped. Mario's spirits fell as he realized the Goomba was right; just as the beach lined the ocean, so was there an entire row of fancy-looking hotels lining the back end of the beach, though in front of them was a row of palm trees strung with Christmas lights. Mario had no idea what the Seashell Hotel looked like; it could be any of them.

"…Well, this might be a problem. We probably should've asked those guys for directions."

The Goomba snorted. "Ya think?"

"Well, I imagine we're probably looking for the biggest and fanciest one of all. Isn't that how Rodolfo described it?" Maizee said helpfully.

"Yeah, I suppose he did… well, we won't find it just standing here. Let's head out."

At this time and place, the sun was hanging low in the sky and casting long shadows on the beach, but none of the vacationers seemed to mind. It was still the perfect beach temperature, enough so that Mario had to wipe away the sweat from his forehead before too long. As he walked along, his partners, particularly the younger ones, were racing off in every direction, leaving erratic trails of footprints in the sand as they eagerly explored their latest destination. Except Goomblaine, of course. Even in a place like this, he still found a way to be as grouchy as ever.

"I can see why Peach was so excited about coming here," Mario said a little while later as Hanner, Stubba and Dulia were all crowded inside a cabana and buying ice cream cones.

"Yeah, it sure is crowded, though," Snatchel remarked, fanning himself with his hat. "I don't reckon we'll be gettin' a lotta privacy."

He was right, of course. Not only was the beach jam-packed with people, the ocean was filled with surfers performing all sorts of miraculous stunts… but there was only one who caught Mario's attention.

"Is that… hey, it is!" he realized. He raced up to the shoreline and waved his arms over his head. "Ferdinand! Hey, over here!"

Sure enough, riding through a huge barrel at that very moment was unmistakably the leader of the Bumpty Boarders himself. He immediately caught sight of Mario and the others on the shore, and with a delighted look he turned on a dime and rode right over to them, sending up a spray as he did.

"Woooooah! Look who it is!" he cheered as he hopped off his board. "Mario-dude! And other dudes! I can't believe I'm catching you here, man!"

"Yeah, we missed you too. It's been a while, hasn't it?" Mario said with a smile while Hanner and Stubba eagerly crowded around to say hi to him too. Dulia, Snatchel and Maizee, who'd never met this Bumpty, just stood back and looked confused.

"Heh, I'll say it has! What brings you dudes over here?"

"Well, actually, your friends actually just gave us a ride here. Hope that's all right."

"How've you been, Ferdie? Did you guys open up that surf shop yet?" asked Hanner.

"Aw, 'fraid not, dudes," Ferdinand sighed. "The entrepreneuring business can be most un-tubular at times… but hey, we can talk later, dudes! You're on the most epic beach in the whole world right now! Why don't you all join me on a most awesome boarding excursion?"

Maizee gave a light smile and shook her head. "I'm sorry, honey, but this isn't a vacation. We're here strictly on business."

"Oh, I get it. Still doing the world-saving thing, huh dudes? Right on, right on. Hey, man, did you ever make it to Golden Spur Ranch all right?"

Mario blinked. "Oh… yeah, we sure did."

"Dude, I still can't figure out why you'd ever wanna go there," said Ferdinand, shaking his head. "Like I said, man. It's all sand, and no surf!"

Snatchel didn't look happy to hear that. "_Excuse _me there, partner," he said, stepping forward and prodding Ferdinand in the chest, "but I happen to be the _sheriff _of Golden Spur Ranch! Show a little respect!"

Ferdinand blinked. "Woah, seriously? My condolences, dude. You ever consider a different vocation?"

Maizee and Hanner quickly grabbed Snatchel by either arm before he could do anything rash while Mario hastily took back the rein of the conversation. "Well anyway, Ferdinand… now that you're here, maybe you can help us out. See, we're actually headed over to the Seashell Hotel. Do you think you could give us directions?"

"Why, it would be my pleasure, most noblest of dudes!" the Bumpty agreed enthusiastically. "The Seashell Hotel is way down at the other end of the beach. Just keep going this way and you can't miss it, man! I should warn you, though… it's mondo exclusive over there. Not just any dudes can get in."

Mario frowned. "Oh man, that's right… I forgot all about that."

"Aw, but they _have _to let us in! We're saving the world!" Stubba said fervently.

"Unfortunately, I think most people are gonna be a little disinclined to believe something like that," Hanner sighed.

Ferdinand noticed how concerned they all looked, and that made _him _concerned. He obviously didn't know the details on why they had to get to the hotel so badly, but far be it from him to ignore a dude as all-around righteous as Mario when he was in need.

"Well, hey, dudes… if it's that important to you, you just tell 'em the Bumpty Boarders sent you!" he said importantly, puffing out his chest. "We hang at that place all the time. If the dudes in there know you're chill with us, they'll be totally down with you guys sticking around! Guaranteed, man!"

Mario quickly brightened up. "Really? You'd do that for us?"

"Chyeah! We're all brohams, right? Besides, you dudes'll be just in time for the grand re-opening!"

"Grand re-opening… oh yeah, the other guys mentioned that," the plumber mused for a moment. "So why was it closed in the first place?"

"Oh, you know, man. Renovations and all that!" the Bumpty said excitedly, making a vague hand gesture. "I mean, that place was cool enough already, but word is that after this it's gonna be the most bodacious joint you ever saw! _Everybody's _gonna be there!"

"Huh… you don't say…" Why was hearing this making Mario feel a little wary? "Uh… hang on just a minute."

He gestured for all his partners to gather in close so nobody could hear.

"Did you guys hear that? Sounds like this re-opening is a really big deal… you don't think that's got anything to do with the Darkstriders hiding the Sun Soul in there, do you?" he whispered.

Dulia just cocked her head like she always did when she was confused or thinking. "Why would that matter? All they're trying to do is keep it away from us, aren't they?"

"Yeah, but on the other hand… if they've added a bunch more stuff, it'll just make it harder for us to find our way around there," said Hanner. "Plus, there'll be a ton of people in there. They could get in our way."

Maizee frowned warily. "And if they've added on to this hotel… who says the Darkstriders haven't also added something to give us trouble?"

Mario finally just shook his head. "Well, we'll never know unless we head over there and see for ourselves. We've made it this far, after all. I believe in this team."

His partners all nodded in agreement, and that seemed to be the end of that. Satisfied with their decision, they broke out of their huddle.

"All right, we'll keep all that in mind. Thanks Ferdinand." Mario blinked in surprise as he saw the Bumpty was gone. "Ferdinand? …Where'd he go?"

"I think he's over there," said Dulia, pointing out at the ocean. Far off in the distance was an enormous, almost vertical whitecap, and they could just barely make out a Bumpty careening down it on his board.

_"GNAAAAAAAAAAAARLYYYYYYYYYYYY!"_

"That feller has no direction in life," Snatchel muttered.

––

Following Ferdinand's directions, the group continued off down the beach in search of the hotel, although they ran into several additional distractions such as a juice bar, a surfboard rental (Mario had to very firmly tell Stubba no), and a live band consisting of a group of Piantas playing the steel drums and saxophone. It was quite a while before they finally arrived at the very far end of the beach, and unsurprisingly, the sun was lower still in the sky at this point.

But all that was pushed out of Mario's mind the minute he laid eyes on the Seashell Hotel.

"Woah. I think I see it, Mario," Hanner said in awe.

"Yup, me too," Mario agreed, and they all raced over to it in excitement. There was only one building it could possibly be, by far the biggest one on the whole beach. It was dozens of stories high with a very sleek and modern-looking design, covered largely in blue-green colored glass windows. Through the windows they could see a fancy glass elevator positioned in the front center of the hotel and traveling up and down, giving its riders a view of the whole beach. There were all manner of palm trees and umbrellas surrounding the place.

Mario craned his head up to stare at it. "Wow… Peach wasn't lying. This place is even bigger than the castle! Probably fancier too!"

"Who the heck needs a dump this huge, anyway?" Goomblaine grumbled, not looking impressed.

"I gotta agree… this place is a little too fancy for my likin'," Snatchel admitted. "We're all pretty simple folks back at home, y'know?"

"Oh, c'mon guys, give it a chance. This'll be fun!" Hanner giggled. "And anyway, we won't be here for long. Just until we find the Sun Soul."

Mario nodded a little absentmindedly. Seeing the hotel like this was quite a thrill, but now he was actually starting to worry a little. He'd assumed the Sun Soul would be relatively easy to find, but the sheer size of this place was making him reconsider. There must have been an infinite number of places it could have been hidden.

Not only that, but they also had a Guardian to find, and this beach wasn't exactly low on people…

"Well, I guess we better head on in and get a look around, huh?" he finally said, deciding worrying wouldn't get them anywhere. With varying degrees of enthusiasm, his partners followed after him as he walked on over. There were already dozens of people gathered outside and forming a crowd, but Mario's team worked their way around them until they finally arrived at the huge, fancy front doors and pushed them open.

_**Seashell Hotel, Main Lobby**_

_**5:00 pm**_

"_Wooooooooah_," Stubba said the moment they were inside.

"'Woah' is right," Hanner agreed.

Mario was now almost positive that this was the fanciest building he'd ever been in. There were intricate crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, an enormous and expensive-looking carpet covering the marble floor where they were standing, and potted plants in every corner of the room. In the middle of the floor was a solid gold fountain in the shape of a trio of Cheep-Cheeps. Mario also realized after a moment that there was a string quartet playing somewhere in the background.

Not only that, but it was extremely crowded. There was a ton of people standing around, all of them looking around and chatting in excitement.

"Hey, you guys got a reservation?" asked a bored-looking Noki receptionist sitting at the front desk.

"Huh?" Mario and the others noticed her. She was resting her head in her hand and seemed to be working on a piece of bubble gum. "Uh… well, actually, we're not staying here. We just wanted to get a look around."

"I'm sorry, but the Seashell Hotel is currently only open to those who have already made a reservation," the receptionist droned, sounding like she'd had to say it multiple times already today. "I'll have to ask you to wait outside."

"Uh… well, hang on. We just talked to Ferdinand, and he said if we just say his name we could – "

The large pink bubble that the receptionist had been blowing abruptly popped. "_Ferdinand?_" she squealed in delight. "You mean you guys are actually friends with that surfing studmuffin?"

Mario blinked slowly. "…Studmuffin…?"

"That changes everything! You guys can stay here as long as you want!" she swooned. "Oh, and next time you see him, tell him Lucille says hi, okay?"

"Uh… yeah, sure," said Mario, getting a little uncomfortable. "Uh, c'mon guys, let's wait over here," he muttered, quickly leading his partners away.

"Well, that was weird," said Hanner.

"No, I'd say it's pretty much par for the course at this point," Mario muttered. "Now, remember to be on your guard, guys. Do you see anything suspicious around here?"

They all glanced surreptitiously around the lobby, but there was nothing to be seen except the other vacationers standing around.

"Uh-uh… everything looks okay, Mario," Stubba finally said, shaking his head.

Mario sighed. "Well, there must be _something_… the Darkstriders wouldn't let us in this easily."

No one got to say anything else before another voice suddenly spoke up.

"Hello, hello, everyone! So glad you could all make it!"

Everyone in the crowd turned and saw a large, pompous-looking Bulky Bob-omb standing in front of the main desk. He had on a top hat that was much too small for him and was (somehow) holding onto a gold-handled cane.

"Now then! I am the manager of the Seashell Hotel, and I am pleased to welcome you all to the highly anticipated, highly exclusive re-opening of this grand establishment!"

Everyone in the crowd started clapping, and Mario's party quickly took it as a signal to do the same. As they clapped, Mario suddenly noticed all five Bumpty Boarders squeezing in through the front door and gathering around in the back of the crowd. The plumber gave them a wink, and they waved back.

"As I'm sure you know, the Seashell Hotel is among the largest and most famous in all of Chronoside," the manager went on. "At an amazing thirty stories tall, it includes such features as an indoor pool, multiple bars, a music lounge, and fine cuisine from all parts of the world!"

A bunch of "_Oooh_"s and "_Aaah_"s came from the audience. Goomblaine rolled his eyes.

"And of course, you lovely people all have the great honor of being the very first to stay at our newly improved and renovated hotel!" the manager concluded. "And so, it is my great honor to welcome each and every one of you to – "

"_Stop right there_," hissed a very familiar voice. "That was a wonderful little speech, but I'm afraid it ends now."

Mario's team instantly tensed up. "No…" Mario groaned as everyone else in the room suddenly crowded together in fear, looking for the source of the disembodied voice. Not Mario, though. He knew what was coming.

Suddenly a plume of choking black smoke came rising up from in front of the fountain, and out stepped Jaff, Pell and Nobb, looking more serious and dangerous than ever before. The vacationers gasped in fright.

"_You!_" Mario snarled at them, clenching his fists.

Maizee's eyes widened in recognition. "_Them _again?"

Well, Mario, why am I not surprised to see you here already?" Jaff sneered as he and the others strode forward, the vacationers fearfully edging out of their way. "You always did have the annoying habit of being one step ahead of us… but that ends now. The Dusk Soul will _never _be yours."

The manager stared at them, looking more confused than frightened. "Erm… wait a minute… who are all of you, exactly?"

"No one's allowed in here without a reservation," Lucille called over listlessly, earning several exasperated glares.

Jaff turned to glare at the manager. "All you need to know is that we are servants of King Shroude, ruler of Chronoside," he growled threateningly. "And I'm afraid your use has ended. This hotel is now under _our _management."

"Oh, _get real!_" Mario shouted, marching forward with his partners closely flanking him. All the vacationers stared at him, having no idea what was unfolding before them.

"How many times do we have to do this? We've beaten you three before and we'll do it again!"

But all Jaff did in response was turn to Mario with a wicked grin. "Why, Mario… what on earth makes you think it's just the three of us?"

Mario quickly grew pale. "Uh…"

Jaff threw back his head and shouted, "DARKSTRIDERS, ATTACK!"

And just like that, the entire lobby seemed to erupt in smoke. All the vacationers started screaming and running around in a panic as the black fumes completely enveloped them, shouting something about a bomb going off – but no, it wasn't a bomb, Mario realized with a horrible chill. It was Darkstriders, _dozens _of them, appearing out of thin air from every direction and scampering all over the lobby, claws bared, capturing the hapless vacationers before they could do a thing.

"HOLY COW!" Hanner cried while Dulia gave a yelp of surprise.

"What-what's going on?" Mario stammered as he backed into a corner, any possibility of a fight quickly removed from his mind. He hadn't even known there _were _this many Darkstriders. There was no way they could fight against a number like this.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" the manager shouted amid the total chaos, only for Pell and Nobb to grab him and drag him off. Lucille shrieked and ducked under the desk, but within moments she had been captured as well.

"DUDES! THIS IS TOTALLY NOT RIGHTEOUS!" Ferdinand cried as he and the other Bumpty Boarders tried to run out of the room, only for three Darkstriders to leap in their way.

Mario's partners were clearly the only ones who stood a chance. They valiantly tried to fight back against the army of Darkstriders bearing down on them and tearing up the lobby, but they were vastly outnumbered. There was nothing they could do.

"This is _pointless! We're gonna lose!_" Goomblaine snarled.

"Mario partner, I'm thinkin' we better skedaddle!" Snatchel said in a panic.

"I know, I know!" Mario shouted. He quickly ducked down and plowed through the mass of blue and black, swinging his hammer and knocking away all the Darkstriders in his path. All his partners managed to break off from the fight and follow after him, and everyone raced toward the entrance as fast as they possibly could (Hanner was screaming and flailing her arms, which wasn't helping much).

Finally they came bursting out of the front doors and scrambled back onto the beach, only slowing to a stop when they were a very safe distance away from the hotel and they realized nobody was chasing after them.

"Is everybody here?" Mario asked worriedly once he'd caught his breath. He quickly did a head count of his partners, then sighed in relief.

"Thank goodness… we all made it."

"_We _all made it… but what about everybody else?" cried Dulia. The others turned around and quickly realized what she meant. Inside the hotel it had fallen eerily silent, and no one else had come outside. They were standing alone on the beach.

"Mario, sweetheart, I think we're the only ones who made it out safely," Maizee said fretfully. "We have to go back in there and help the others!"

"_What? _Go _back? _Why the heck would we do something that stupid?" Goomblaine snapped at her.

He immediately got his answer. All of a sudden there came a loud crackle of static from the megaphones situated high up on the outer wall of the hotel, and a tinny-sounding but familiar voice came out of it.

"ATTENTION, PESKY PLUMBER!" it shouted. "The Darkstriders and I have taken over the Palmy Balmy Beach! The vacationers are now all permanent guests at one of my seven Seashell Hotels!"

Hanner raised an eyebrow. "_What _did he say?"

"Wait, no – what?" The voice sounded confused. "No! We only have _one _hotel, and it's this one! Mario! We're holding the vacationers prisoner at the very top floor of the hotel! If you want to save them, you'll have to make it all the way up here! And good luck trying to do that – just wait until you see what we've done with the place! HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

––––

**A/N: **Okay, I know hotels and hostels are not the same thing, but that title was too good to pass up. :P


	39. Chapter 6, Part II

**A/N: **Sorry if this part feels weird or subpar, but I hope a certain important event that happens here will make up for it.

––––

_**Seashell Hotel, Main Lobby**_

_**5:00 pm**_

Mario and his friends crept back into the hotel as quietly and slowly as they could. Mario's heart was pounding, and he was fully aware of his partners cowering behind him as he pushed the door open and stepped inside.

He didn't know what he was expecting – an ambush, probably – but he quickly saw that there was nobody. The once-pristine lobby was now a complete mess thanks to the recent struggle, but apart from their little group, it was completely empty… and disturbingly quiet. The only sound came from the flowing water of the fountain.

"…Where _is _everybody, Mario?" Stubba asked timidly, holding tightly onto his club.

"I think they're up on the very top," the plumber replied softly, gazing up at the ceiling and trying to imagine how far away they were. What had the manager said? Didn't this hotel have thirty stories? And the Darkstriders must have booby trapped every last one of them…

And what were they doing to all those people right this very minute? All those innocent hostages whose only crime was being in the hotel at the same time as Mario…

Suddenly he felt himself flushing hot with rage. He spun around and kicked the wall as hard as he could.

His partners stared at him in shock. "Mario, what's the matter?" Maizee asked worriedly.

"What do you _think _is the matter?" he snapped back in a harsher voice than he'd intended. "All those people up there are being held hostage because of _us! _This is all _our _fault!" He kicked the wall again. "Those Darkstriders… they just won't give up! They don't care _who _they have to hurt if it means getting in our way, do they? I can't _take _this anymore!"

He kept pounding on the wall until finally he grew too tired to go on. Letting out a deep, despairing sigh, he slid to the floor and gazed off miserably. His partners were too frightened to say anything.

"It's like everywhere we go, we put people in danger," he groaned, running his fingers through his hair. "No wonder Peach gets kidnapped so much. This whole thing is probably my fault somehow."

"Oh, Mario… don't say that," Dulia sighed, stepping up to him. "This _isn't_ your fault. If it weren't for you, the Darkstriders would've gotten away with a lot worse things than this."

"Yeah! I mean, think about all the people you've _helped _since you came here!" Hanner persisted. "And we're gonna help these people too! Those blue jerks aren't gonna get away with this!"

"The gals are right, Mario," Snatchel agreed firmly. "But we ain't gonna be help to nobody if we're just standin' here and mopin'."

Mario let out another sigh and looked up at his partners. They were all gazing down expectantly at him, looking concerned and waiting for his reply.

Suddenly he felt incredibly guilty. He wasn't much of a leader if he was the first one to lose it when things got rough.

"Yeah, you guys are right," he finally muttered, picking himself up and dusting himself off. "If those guys got captured because of us, then I guess it's our job to get up there and save them."

Hanner grinned. "That's the spirit!"

"We should be quiet, though," he went on, trying to regain some semblance of leadership. "In case there are any Darkstriders around here, we don't want them to know where we are and – "

Suddenly there came a loud crash from somewhere outside the room.

"Too late," he groaned.

"What was that?" asked Dulia, turning to face the noise along with the others and looking scared. "It sounded like it came from that hallway…"

By unspoken agreement, the group quickly steeled themselves and crept out of the lobby into the adjacent hallway. It was much less fancy than the room they'd just left, and was obviously only meant for utilities.

In fact, they quickly realized the crash had come from inside a broom closet. And even now, there were still rustling and bumping noises coming from behind the locked door.

"It must be a Darkstrider trying to get the jump on us," Mario whispered as they all gathered around the door.

"He's not doin' a real good job," Goomblaine snorted.

The plumber gripped his hammer. "On three, we break in there and capture him for questioning," he ordered, and his group nodded. "One… two…"

The person in the closet must have heard Mario, because suddenly he spoke.

"W-Wait! Please don't hurt me, little blue dudes! I'm totally innocent, man!"

Mario nearly fell over in surprise. "Wait – that's – "

"Ferdinand?" Hanner cried, racing up to the door and tugging on the knob. "Ferdie! It's us! Open up!"

"Huh? Mario dudes?" Suddenly the knob began to turn, the door swung open, and out tumbled Ferdinand… along with several mops that fell on top of him.

"What the heck are you doin' in there?" Goomblaine scoffed at him.

"Oh… Mario dudes! It _is_ you! What a relief, man!" Ferdinand groaned, quickly pulling himself to his feet. "I thought you bailed when those blue dudes came in here! I dunno what just happened, but that was a _most _un-awesome experience…"

"Ferdinand, you didn't see what happened to everybody else, did you?" asked Mario. "I mean, it's good to see that you're okay, but we're the only ones who made it out of there, and now everybody else is gone."

The Bumpty lowered his head and looked guilty. "Sorry, Mario-dude. I totally hoofed it in here as soon as I could. But it sounded like the blue dudes made off with everybody and went to some other floor…" He covered his face with his flippers. "Including the rest of the Bumpty Boarders! Oh, man! My bros are getting wailed on! What do I do? The Bumpty Boarders can't go out like this!"

"Oh, no!" cried Stubba, who was clearly a big fan of Ferdinand and his friends. "Mario, we gotta go save the other guys! They were so nice to us!"

"Okay, okay, calm down everybody," Mario said quickly. "Look, Ferdinand… there's something we have to tell you. Those blue guys who kidnapped your friends… they're called Darkstriders." He gazed guiltily at the floor, reluctant to go on. "…And they came here because of us. I'm sorry, Ferdinand. It's our fault the other Bumptys were taken away."

Ferdinand stared at him. "Dude! You mean you've been fighting _those _dudes this whole time? _They're _trying to take over the world?"

Mario blinked at his reaction. "Uh, well, yes…"

"Oh, _man! _This is even worse than I thought! This is a most heinous act of GLACIAL PROPORTIONS!" he cried, flailing his arms in the air. "Well, I can't just chill out down here and let those dudes have their way with our world, man! I happen to _like _living here! You gotta let me help you dudes!"

Maizee looked stunned. "You want to come with us?"

"Wait a minute. Aren't you upset?" asked Mario. "I mean, we brought all this on you!"

Ferdinand vehemently shook his head. "No way, man! I know a straight-up dude like you would never let this happen on purpose. And like I said, you gotta let me hook up with you. You've gotta save the world, and I've gotta rescue my bros! Bumpty Boarders never leave each other behind!"

Mario suddenly realized the full implications of what Ferdinand was requesting. "Well, I… if you're sure about this… I suppose you can come with us. It'll definitely be safer for us if we all stay together."

"_What?_" Snatchel didn't look pleased at all to hear this. "Now hang on a minute, shouldn't we maybe talk about this before we decide on anything?"

"There's nothing to talk about, Snatchel. We need all the help we can get," Mario said firmly before turning back to Ferdinand. "Okay Ferdinand, you stick with us."

"Yeah! _Righteous! _I won't let you down, man!" the Bumpty cheered. The atmosphere lightened up considerably as everyone gathered around and eagerly welcomed their eighth and final party member, except for Snatchel, who was busy banging his head against the wall.

_**Ferdinand Joined Mario's Party!**_

_Ferdinand is a gnarly Bumpty surfer dude who lives for excitement and jumps on any thrill life throws at him. He can slide along the ground with ease, and Mario can hitch a ride on his back in order to travel faster. He can even flutter over gaps that are too wide to jump and carry Mario with him. In battle, he can attack an enemy with a defense-piercing Beak Jab, or use Flutter Lift on Mario to protect him from ground-based attacks._

––

_**Seashell Hotel, 2**__**nd**__** Floor**_

_**5:02 pm**_

After spending a while trying to figure out their first course of action, Mario decided they might as well take advantage of the hotel's amenities while they were on their rescue mission. So after swiping a card key from behind the front desk, the group traveled up the stairs to the second floor and opened up Room 201.

"This is really weird," said Hanner as they all stepped into the room. "We're actually staying in here while there's a hostage situation going on?"

"Now guys, this hotel is a really big place. And we still don't know what the Darkstriders have done to it," Mario explained as he flipped the lights on. "If we need to split up or if somebody gets hurt, we need some kind of base to come back to. So let's meet back in here if we have to."

Maizee smiled. "What a wonderful idea! That's awfully clever of you, Mario." Meanwhile Stubba eagerly climbed onto one of the huge beds and started jumping on it.

"All right. Well, let's get down to business." Mario rubbed his hands together. "Ferdinand, you've been here before, haven't you? We're going to need somebody who knows their way around this place."

"You can count on me, man!" The Bumpty gave him a salute. "Well dudes, the totally tricked-out thing about this place is that there's something on just about every floor. A pool, a ballroom… they've got the works here, man!"

"Yay! That sounds like fun!" Stubba cheered as he bounced up and down.

"Normally it would be, but now it just means there are more places for the Darkstriders to use," Hanner muttered. "Well, this is terrific…"

"And that's not all of it," Mario decided. "I'm sure they're hiding all over this place and waiting for us, so we're going to have to find them first. We have to flush out each and every one of them and beat them."

His partners looked surprised. "What? But… isn't that going to be a waste of time?" asked Dulia. "I mean, there's still all those people up there!"

"And you really think the Darkstriders would let use just barge up there and save them?" Mario countered, shaking his head. "No way. If I know them, we'll have to get rid of them all if we even want a chance of getting up there safely. Anyway, it'll be best if we can beat them all now so they don't come after us later."

"Mario has a point," Maizee sighed. "I'm sure they're not going to let us walk all the way up to the top floor without giving us trouble. They may even be watching us right now."

"Heh heh… Well, I guess you guys are smarter than you look."

Everyone spun around and saw that voice had come from a wicked-looking Darkstrider who was standing in the doorway, flexing his claws and blocking off their escape. Most of the group screamed and jumped backwards, although Snatchel just rolled his eyes and punched him in the face.

"…Okay, let's do it Mario's way," Hanner decided after the Darkstrider had slumped to the ground and burst into smoke.

"Right. Now let's get out of here before more of them come after us."

"Aw, c'mon, that was fun!" said Snatchel, cracking his knuckles and quickly following after the others as Mario led them out the door.

––

_**Seashell Hotel, 5**__**th**__** Floor**_

_**5:08 pm**_

Ferdinand eagerly led the way up the stairs and through the next several floors. Mario was surprised at how well the Bumpty knew his way around this place. Not only that, but he was still getting used to how fancy it was in here. Even in the hallways that led off to the rooms, the floor was lavishly carpeted and a series of miniature chandeliers were hanging from the ceiling.

Just as Mario had predicted, there were several Darkstriders hiding on every floor, but by now Mario's party was large enough that they didn't stand a chance, even when they teamed up in groups of four or five. Even Ferdinand turned out to be a surprisingly good fighter, and it often took only a good Beak Jab or two from him to down one of their opponents.

But as Mario soon found out, just because they couldn't pick the heroes off in a fight didn't mean they couldn't cause other problems.

"Too bad those guys had to go and break the elevator, or this'd be a lot easier," Hanner panted as they trudged up another flight of stairs and arrived up at the fifth floor.

"True that, true that," Ferdinand agreed. "Okay dudes, on this floor we've got the… uh, what was it… oh yeah! The art gallery! Paintings and stuff, you know."

"Really? That doesn't sound so bad," said Mario as the group walked along. "In fact it sounds kind of – woah."

He jerked to a stop just in time as he realized he'd almost walked right into a huge hole the Darkstriders had blasted into the floor. As he cautiously edged up to it and peered down, he found he could see all the way back down to the fourth floor.

"That looks like it'll cost a lot to fix," he remarked after a moment.

"This is no good. Now we're stuck over here," Maizee realized as the partners crowded around and peered down as well. "The stairs are on the other side."

Ferdinand didn't look worried. "Aw, c'mon, dude! This is no problem for yours truly! I can give all you dudes a lift over there if you want."

Mario looked up and stared at him. "You mean you can fly over this thing?"

Snatchel folded his arms suspiciously. "Ain't penguins supposed to be _flightless _birds?"

"I never sweat the details, man," the Bumpty said unconcernedly. "Come on, Mario-dude, hop on! I'll show you I don't gotta be riding the waves to get some air, know what I mean?"

Looking a little uneasy, Mario decided to do like he said and climbed on his back. No sooner had he done that than Ferdinand gave an excited cheer and started rapidly flapping his arms, rising right up into the air.

"_Woah!_" Stubba gasped as the two of them soared over the hole in the floor. Mario was so startled that he accidentally let go of Ferdinand, slipping off and grabbing onto the Bumpty's foot at the last second before they reached the other side and landed safely.

"Wow… you were right, Ferdinand. Sorry I doubted you," he said sheepishly. In response, the Bumpty just gave him another overly hearty slap on the back.

"No worries, man! Now how about I get all you other dudes over here, huh?"

And so he flew all the other partners over to the other side as well, looking none the worse for wear at the end. Most of them seemed to have more fun than Mario had.

"Man, you're the coolest, Ferdie," Hanner laughed once they'd all made it across.

"Yeah, that was so neat! I wish I could do that!" Stubba said wistfully.

Mario was about to speak up when he suddenly froze; he could very distinctly make out a bunch of voices coming from somewhere else on the floor. They weren't alone up here.

"Woah. You heard that too, man?" asked Ferdinand, suddenly looking serious for once. "I think it's coming from the gallery."

Very cautiously, the group followed after the Bumpty and walked over to the gallery situated in the middle of the floor, surrounded by guest rooms. As soon as they walked into it, Mario gasped.

They had just entered a very pristine-looking room with stark white walls and a wooden floor. Hanging from the walls and ceiling were dozens of enormous paintings – Mario's breath was taken away by the sheer size of some of them, as well as their brilliant colors and overwhelming detail. He was starting to get a feel of how fancy this hotel really was, as surely only the most prestigious places in the world could house paintings like these.

Unfortunately, the mood was a little spoiled by the group of terrified hotel guests crowded together in the middle of the room, flanked by a group of Darkstriders.

"What the – what's going on in here?" Mario cried. The demonic imps immediately spun around and bristled at the sight of him.

"Mario! So you made it," one of them laughed as Mario's team leapt into battle stances. "Too bad you're a little late to save your precious little friends here. They were being particularly troublesome, so Rizz gave us the order to… punish them appropriately."

"Now, hang on… what are they doing down here?" the plumber frowned in confusion at the captured guests. "I thought your leader said you were holding everyone on the top floor!"

The Darkstriders suddenly looked a little uneasy. "Well… that was Jaff's idea, but… Rizz insisted that we do this," one of them spoke up. "She said Jaff is a fool and there are far worse things that we could do to these people than simply hold them captive…"

"What are you guys talking about? And who's Rizz?" Hanner demanded. Mario was wondering the same thing. He was a little intrigued at this sign of dissent in the ranks…

The Darkstrider seemed to realize he'd said too much. "Oh, that's none of your business!" he snarled. "We'll do what we please with these people and you can't stop us!"

"Uh oh… uh, I just had a thought, dudes," Ferdinand said uneasily. "The whole reason this gallery is so famous is that it's sorta magic. Basically anything that's inside those paintings can come out of it… or vice versa, man."

The guests looked horrified. "_What?_" one of them cried. "You mean they're going to – "

"Shut up!" the Darkstrider snarled, giving him a smack. "I just hate it when our plans get spoiled, but yes – if you don't start behaving, we'll imprison you in those paintings forever! Just like we did with that wimpy yellow star!"

Suddenly he paused and seemed to reconsider. "But Mario… since you've been impeding us for so long, perhaps you'd like to be the _first _to go! Darkstriders, attack!"

And attack they did. Predictably, that didn't work out too well for them.

"Waitwaitwait guys! Let me do it!" Hanner cried before anyone else could move. The other partners jumped back in surprise as she suddenly wound up with her hammer as though she were about to swing it like a baseball bat – and a crackling ball of electricity appeared in the air right in front of her.

"Woah…" Mario gasped.

Hanner swung her hammer with all her might and hit the lightning ball head on. Upon contact, it instantly exploded into a storm of lightning bolts that streaked off in all directions and blasted every Darkstrider in the room. They all shrieked as they were sent flying into the wall and instantly burst into smoke.

"YEAH! Volt Hammer _rocks!_" she cheered, dancing around as the other partners gawked at her.

"Ya sure that wasn't _overkill?_" Goomblaine huffed at her in exasperation.

"Phew… thanks for saving us. That was pretty impressive," one of the guests said to Mario as soon as they realized they were safe. "I really thought we were done for there for a minute!"

"No worries. But you guys had better get out of here while you still can. We'll take it from here."

"You don't need to tell _me _twice!" cried another guest as they all raced out the door and over to the stairs.

After they had left, Mario started looking thoughtful. "Well, _that _was interesting," he said. "If I know Jaff – and I think I do by now – he's not gonna be happy that those guys are going behind his back…"

"And who's Rizz, I wonder? Doesn't sound like she likes him very much," Dulia mused. "You think maybe she's _trying _to mess his plans up?"

"Geez, am I seriously the only one payin' attention here?" Goomblaine growled. "Who cares about all that? Did you freaks all forget what he said about a yellow star? They hid one of those Luma things in here!"

Mario's eyes widened. "Oh, man, you're right! They trapped it in a painting, didn't they? We gotta find that thing!"

The group quickly split up and started looking all around the gallery for any sign of a Luma hidden in a painting, but much to their dismay, they didn't find a thing. On the other hand, Mario felt himself drawn to a very large painting depicting nothing but a sunny daytime sky.

"Hmm…" He rubbed his chin, getting a long look at the painting. "I think I know where it is, guys. Come over here."

They all walked over to him, and the minute they did, Mario grabbed the Aeon Hourglass and turned it over, causing them all to vanish.

––

_**Seashell Hotel, 5**__**th**__** Floor**_

_**5:08 am**_

"Ha ha! Just like I thought," said Mario, grinning in triumph as he turned to look at the painting again. Here in Nightside it didn't depict a sun, but rather a moonlit sky filled with stars.

And one of those stars was a terrified-looking Luma.

"Hang on, little guy. I'll get you out of there!" Mario shouted to it. His partners watched in confusion as he suddenly took several steps backwards… and their eyes popped out of their heads as he ran forward and jumped right into the painting.

"Holy _cow!_" Hanner cried.

"_Woah! _How'd you do _that, _Mario?" Stubba gasped as Mario came leaping out moments later with the Luma in his hands.

"Actually, I do that more often than you'd think. It's pretty fun," the plumber replied, chuckling at the baffled looks of all his partners standing in front of him –

And then he did a double take. _All _of them were standing in front of him.

"Hang on… Ferdinand… you're still here?"

As soon as he said that, the other partners instantly turned away from him and stared at Ferdinand instead.

The Bumpty gave himself a look-over. "It would appear so, dude. Should I not be?"

"Well, it's just – " Mario's head started reeling. Could this mean what he thought it meant? But no, it couldn't possibly…

"Ferdinand… uh… did you ever notice anything unusual about the sun?" he began. "Like, how it always seems to stay in one place and never sets?"

Ferdinand quickly brightened up at Mario's words. "Oh yeah! You guys caught onto that too, huh? Totally righteous. I was kinda wondering about that."

The other partners looked incredulously at each other.

"So you _did _notice," said Mario, suddenly finding himself fighting off a migraine. "But you never once thought there was something _strange _about that?"

"Oh yeah, sure I did," Ferdinand said with a shrug. "But I figured, why worry about it? Everything happens for a reason, man. Just gotta go with the flow!"

Mario blinked slowly. "Ah…"

"I don't rightly believe this," Snatchel groaned, covering his face in his hands.

"Okay Ferdinand, listen," Mario sighed. "I'm glad you haven't been worrying this whole time, but trust me… this whole thing with the sun is something _very _bad that we need to put a stop to right away."

And not for the first time, he found himself explaining the story of the Guardians and the Sun Souls to his latest partner. Thankfully, Ferdinand seemed to understand the seriousness of it.

"Woah… that's totally deep, man," he said in awe. "So you guys are like, fighting to restore the balance of the world and stuff! That's tricked-out!"

"…Yeah, you could say that. Anyway, that's the whole reason the Darkstriders came here in the first place. There's a Sun Soul up there somewhere, and we have to get it."

Ferdinand immediately straightened up. "Well, dudes! What are we chilling out down here for then? We got a Sun Thingy to find! Let's go!"

And with that he raced out of the gallery and back down the hallway as fast as he could. None of the others followed after him, though. In fact, the moment he'd gone, Mario slowly turned to his other partners.

"I… well, I didn't see this one coming."

"Somehow I did," Hanner mused.

"Oh, don't worry about it, Mario," said Dulia, trying to be optimistic. "I mean, he must have been chosen for a reason, just like the rest of us, right?"

"Yeah! He wants to save the world just like us! That means he _has _to be a good guy!" Stubba agreed.

"I never doubted he was a good guy, Stubba. It's just… you guys all understand how serious our job is. Ferdinand… he doesn't always take things seriously. I don't know if he really gets how important this is."

Before anyone could say anything else, Ferdinand stuck his head back in the room. "Hey dudes, are we heading out or what?"

"We'll talk about it later, Mario," Maizee assured him quietly, patting his arm before following after the others. Knowing he didn't have much choice, Mario followed after them as well.

"Ugh, I'm probably just being silly again. I know I shouldn't be worried," he muttered to himself as they headed over to the stairwell. "I mean, the guys are right. Ferdinand wouldn't be a Guardian if he weren't right for the job, would he?"

_Goodness, Mario, you sound even more stressed out than I usually am! _said a voice. _I think you need to stop worrying so much and have more faith in your friends. You could always count on _us_,_ _couldn't you?_

"Well, sure, but… you're the hardest-working person I know. You really think _he's _going to be up to this?"

_Aw, c'mon man! You're not worried, are you? _asked another voice. _Sure this guy's a little wacked out, but he's still cool!_

_You better believe it, Gonzales! _laughed somebody else, and Mario suddenly realized there were _three _voices this time. _Not all of us are wound as tight as Featherbrain over there, but we always come through for ya just the same!_

_Yeah, just what he… heeeeeey, wait, what'd you call me? _the first voice demanded.

Mario stifled a grin. "Well, I suppose if you guys aren't worried… maybe he'll end up surprising us. Stranger things have happened in this group, right?"

_Yeah! Now that's what I like to hear! _said the second voice. _There's nothin' to worry about as long as you're around, Mario! That's why you're the man!_

_Yep, you and that blue dude are gonna get along just great! I can tell, _said the third voice. _Oh, hang on – watch your head, Gonzales._

"Huh?" Mario didn't snap out of it quickly enough before the door to the stairwell suddenly swung open and smacked him right in the face.

"Oh no! Sorry, Mario!" Hanner cried from the other side of the door.

"Don't worry about it," he wheezed, picking himself up off the floor and hurrying after his friends.

––––

**A/N: **Yay Ferdinand. Dedicated to everyone who (like me) wanted Pennington to join them during TTYD.

And yes… after nearly two years, Mario finally has his full party. So what do you think of it?


	40. Chapter 6, Part III

**A/N: **Now that I'm done failing the GRE, here's the next update why not!

So hai gais guess what, I actually went back and changed Ferdinand's second move to something else, because of course I had all this time to think of a moveset for him and didn't come up with something really good until a few days _after _he joined the party and GAH I FAIL SO HARD.

––––

_**Seashell Hotel, 10**__**th**__** Floor**_

_**5:18 am**_

A large group of confused beachgoers was crowded in front of the entrance to the hotel. They had heard what sounded like a lot of screaming coming from inside a little while ago, and now the front door seemed to be barricaded. People were murmuring about a possible hostage situation, but nobody seemed to know for sure what was going on, or who was left inside.

If anyone had bothered to look up at that moment, they might have noticed a window slide open as a Crazee Dayzee stuck her head out, briefly looked around, then quickly pulled her head back in.

"Well Mario, the sky definitely is lighter than it was before," she said. "I think you were right. Time _is _passing as we go up."

Mario shook his head in bewilderment. "That just doesn't make _any _sense. I can understand time passing as we go up something big enough, like a mountain… but a _hotel?_"

"Oh, that was done on purpose, man," said Ferdinand. "The whole time-passing thing is all part of the… uh, what's the word… _ambiance._"

"…So they manipulated the laws of time and space for the _ambiance_," Mario said flatly. "Well, stranger things have happened, I guess. I can't think of any, but there must be some."

"There's also quite a crowd down there," Maizee went on. "I think we'd better wrap this up quickly, or they may try to get inside. We can't put anyone else in danger."

"Sounds good to me. Let's get everybody else over here and… hey, where'd Hanner go?"

"Coming! Coming!" came a voice from inside one of the rooms, and suddenly Hanner kicked the door open and came racing out. "Sorry Mario. I was just off doing… uh… some reconnaissance."

Mario wasn't fooled at all. "Hanner! Have you been looting people's rooms?"

"The door was unlocked!" she said defensively. "And anyway, look what we got out of it!" She waved a Feeling Fine Badge in front of Mario's face and grinned, but he just frowned and swatted it away.

"I don't care. You're being a bad influence on Stubba."

"Uh oh… Mario, I think we're in trouble," came the little Clubba's voice from down the hall. Everyone turned and walked over to him, realizing what he was looking at.

"There's a big lock on the door!" he cried, pointing at the door that led to the next floor. Just like he'd said, it was covered by a big padlock. "Now what do we do?"

"Hmm…" Mario thought it over. "This isn't so bad. All we have to do is find the key. Though the Darkstriders probably hid it somewhere out of the way."

Snatchel was rubbing his chin and looking thoughtful. "Well, if my intuition is right – and it right near always is – I reckon that key's somewhere on this floor." He glanced over his shoulder. "Now let's see…"

"Mario-dude! You totally sure the cowboy dude knows what he's doing?" Ferdinand whispered as everyone followed after Snatchel.

"Sure he does. Finding items is what Bandits do, remember?"

Finally Snatchel stopped in front of a door and slammed it open, immediately grinning in triumph. "Ha! What'd I tell ya? Can I call 'em or what?"

Goomblaine glared at him. "Yeah, too bad the thing's on the _bottom of a pool_."

Sure enough, they were standing in the middle of the hotel pool room. Through the blue-tinted water, they could make out a bright red key resting on the bottom of the pool.

"Ugh… we can't go in there," Mario groaned as he walked up to it. "Every time I jump in the water on adventures like this, I end up getting gnawed on by a Nibbles."

Hanner gave him a weird look. "But it's a swimming pool – "

"EVERY. TIME."

"Don't worry, Mario. All we need to do is drain the water out," said Maizee, who was currently studying what looked to be a small control panel on the wall. "And I think I see a way."

"Cool! Do we smash it until it stops working?" asked Hanner, eagerly racing over.

Maizee raised an eyebrow at her. "I have a safer idea." She closed her eyes and began to sing, and almost immediately the control panel began to short-circuit at the sound.

"Woah! Watch out!" Mario cried, jumping backwards as there suddenly came a loud sucking sound from the pool drain. Everyone crept forward and watched as the water began to drain away, and within minutes the pool was completely empty.

"Awesome. I'm not really sure what you just did, Maizee, but it worked." Mario quickly hopped into the pool and grabbed the key off the floor.

"Ooh, guys, look at this!" said Dulia as Mario was climbing back out. She seemed to suddenly notice something and gestured for the others to follow after her. "There's a sauna in here too! Doesn't that look relaxing?"

"Huh?" Mario looked a little cautious at the bubbling water. "Uh… I don't know, Dulia. I don't think we have time for that."

"Aww, c'mon! Please, Mario?" Stubba asked with a forlorn expression.

"Oh, you're no fun Mario! Last one in's a rotten Yoshi egg!" Hanner cheered, racing by the others and cannonballing into the sauna. The other partners effectively shrugged and jumped in after her.

"_Oh _no! You freaks are _not _draggin' me into that dumb – " Goomblaine was cut off as Hanner reached out and yanked him in. Mario sighed deeply and followed after them.

He almost immediately regretted his decision.

"_YEOWCH!_" he cried, flying out of the sauna and landing on the floor with a thud. "OW! That was hot hot _hot! _Ugh, like I needed another reason to stay out of the water…" He groaned and rubbed the water out of his eyes as he heard his partners yelping in pain and jumping out after him.

"Ugh… okay, bad idea. Maybe we should – **AAAAAAAAAHHHH! **HOLY COW MARIO WHAT'S GOING ON?"

"What – " Mario opened his eyes and started at what had shocked Hanner so much. He and his partners had all been transformed into 8-bit versions of themselves!

"EEK! What happened to us?" Stubba cried, though the poor guy looked more like a big pixilated block than a Clubba now.

"Oh great, this again…" Mario groaned as his partners were all freaking out around him. "Okay guys, listen – CALM DOWN! Everybody just follow me…"

He immediately grabbed the nearest doorknob and shoved all his partners out of the room before following after them. Once they were outside, they were relieved to find they had reverted back to normal.

"Phew… thank goodness," Dulia groaned. "This place just keeps getting stranger."

"Some things about this place even I don't get, man," Ferdinand sighed.

––

_**Seashell Hotel, 15**__**th**__** Floor**_

_**5:28 am**_

Mario's team continued plowing their way through several more floors full of Darkstriders with little effort. By now their group dynamic was better than ever and the blue imps really didn't stand much of a chance.

"Wow, I'm feeling unstoppable!" Dulia laughed as they raced up another flight of stairs. "This isn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be!"

"Which just makes me more sure than ever that they've got something _big _planned for us up here," Mario grumbled.

"Okay, dudes! Next up we've got, uh… the fitness room!" Ferdinand turned around to address the group. "It's righteous for all your cardio needs, man."

"I reckon goin' up all them stairs has been cardio enough for _me_, thank you kindly," Snatchel groaned, rubbing his back.

Mario glanced down the hallway and saw that the next door had another large padlock over it. "Well, looks like we're going after another key. And I guess the fitness room is as good a place as any to hide it in… let's have a look."

The minute they entered the room, however, Mario sensed something was off. It was a very large area with fitness machines and weights lining the walls and gym mats covering the floor, but for some reason all the lights were off.

"Woah… it's kind of creepy in here," he muttered, sensing his partners were feeling uneasy as well. "Uh… hello? Anybody in here?"

"What? Is someone there?" came an immediate response. Mario and the others turned and were shocked to see another group of hostages tied up in the corner of the room.

"Oh no!" Mario gasped, instantly forgetting about protecting himself. "Are you guys all okay? Hang on, we're getting you out of here."

"What? Wait, no!" cried one hostage as Mario started racing over to them. "Get out of here now! It's a trap!"

The plumber skidded to a stop. "What – "

But it was too late. He heard his partners let out frightened gasps as a large plume of smoke suddenly rose up from the middle of the room. Everyone scrambled backwards as they realized what was about to happen.

"Oh no," Mario groaned, pulling out his hammer… but as the Darkstrider stepped out of the smoke, he was surprised to realize he had never seen this one before. For one, she was female, and for another, she was green rather than blue. That didn't stop her from looking downright nasty, though.

"Well well, Mario… what a pleasure to finally meet you," she laughed in a voice that gave Mario a chill. "How unfortunate this meeting must also be your last."

"Uh… do I know you?" Mario asked uneasily, stepping backwards.

Hanner narrowed her eyes. "Wait a minute… you're Rizz, aren't you?"

"The one and only," Rizz sneered. "And I hardly need to ask who all of _you _are. You're the ones who have been impeding our lord's plans at every turn. That ends now." She turned away from him. "Sall! Bess!"

Two more clouds of smoke suddenly came rising up, and two more female Darkstriders appeared out of nowhere, standing squarely in front of the door and blocking their exit. They _had _been led straight into a trap.

"You're too predictable, Mario," Rizz snickered. "I knew the instant you saw someone in trouble you'd come walking straight into my hands. And that idiot Jaff thought it was a good idea to leave these prisoners on the top floor instead of putting them to good use!"

"Well, it seems he was right, since we've saved some of them already," Maizee said sternly. "What are you trying to do, subverting his orders and going behind his back like this?"

"So what if I am? He's a fool and he should have fallen out of favor with our lord a _long _time ago," the green Darkstrider snarled. "_I _am King Shroude's most valuable servant, and I intend to prove that this very minute."

Before Mario could even begin to wonder what she meant, there suddenly came a flash of light from behind him and his partners. All of them immediately turned around and stared in shock.

"Uh oh…" Stubba whispered, drawing back in fear.

"Who is _that?_" Dulia, Maizee and Ferdinand all asked in unison.

"Mwee hee hee hee… I don't suppose you were expecting to see _me _again, Mario!" cackled Kammy Koopa from atop her broom. "This won't be like last time! I think you'll find me a little more than you can handle!"

"Kammy? What the heck are you doing all the way out here?" asked a very bewildered Mario. "And why are you working for _these _guys? Where's Bowser?"

"_That _is not your concern, Mario," Rizz cut in sharply. "Now, Kammy Koopa! Destroy Mario and his friends! And don't forget, this is your last chance!"

Dulia looked confused. "Her last chance? What does she mean by that?"

"That's enough chatter out of you little brats!" Kammy snarled. Without giving them a chance to react, she waved her wand above her head and launched a blinding magic spell directly at Mario. He cried out as the blast hit him right in the stomach and sent him flying across the room, crashing into a weight machine.

"Ow…" he groaned as he slumped to the ground.

"Dude! This old bag has some issues!" said Ferdinand. He quickly flapped up to her and delivered a powerful Beak Jab, but she only growled and whacked him with her wand, sending him falling back to the ground.

"Close-range attacking is _probably _not a good idea," Hanner told him. She tried using Multi-Throw and hurled a whole bunch of hammers up at Kammy, but she weaved back and forth on her broom and dodged every last one of them.

"Hee hee hee… is that really the best you fools can do?" she mocked, spinning around and hitting Hanner with another spell before she could get out of the way.

"This gal's startin' to get on my nerves," Snatchel grumbled. He tried to rope her in with a Roundup, but she wasn't about to be beaten by the same tactic twice. She circled up around the ceiling, far out of his reach, and continued to pelt the hapless heroes with a barrage of colorful blasts.

Meanwhile, Mario had crawled back over to join his team. "Kammy! For the last time, _what _are you doing helping these guys?" he shouted over the chaos.

"I'm what you might call an _opportunist_, Mario," the old Magikoopa laughed. "This fine lady has promised me a grand reward if I can dispose of you myself… and so I shall!"

She raised up both her arms, and as Mario's hair started to stand on end he realized she was about to use her lightning spell. "Oh no – _duck, you guys!_" he shouted, throwing himself behind a weight machine.

"EEEEEK!" cried several of his partners as a barrage of lightning bolts came blasting down from seemingly out of nowhere. Everyone managed to get out of the way in time, but Kammy just laughed insanely and launched the spell again and again. Everyone started frantically racing back and forth, but the all equipment in the room meant it was nearly impossible to outmaneuver the blasts.

"We've gotta get her down off her broom, or we're sitting ducks!" Hanner shouted. She and Mario both kept trying to throw their hammers up at her and knock her off, but she avoided their every blow…

And so she completely failed to notice Dulia floating up behind her and ramming into her with a Head Missile. She let out a yelp as she was sent flying off her broom and crashing to the floor.

"Why you – outsmarted by a weak little girl!" Kammy snarled in disbelief. She launched a spell at Dulia, only for her to throw up a Plasma Shield around herself and deflect the attack effortlessly.

"I'm a lot stronger than I look!" Dulia snapped, quickly glancing at Mario for confirmation of this. He flashed her a thumbs-up, and she grinned.

"Quickly everyone, while she's down!" Maizee shouted, and everyone rushed Kammy at once. She tried to get away but was immediately downed by a harder-than-necessary Headbonk from Goomblaine.

"Urgh… all right, that _does _it!" she shrieked, having finally running out of patience. Violently swatting Goomblaine away, she charged up an enormous, crackling spell on the tip of her wand before firing it directly at Mario. His eyes bulged as he realized too late it was headed straight for him.

"Woah! Can't have you wailing on my bro there, man!" said Ferdinand. He quickly grabbed onto Mario and rapidly flapped his arms, using Flutter Lift and rising into the air. The spell flew directly underneath them at the last instant.

"Phew… good save, Ferdinand," Mario sighed, quickly letting go of the Bumpty and dropping back to the ground. "Now let's end this!"

"_No! _I won't be defeated again!" Kammy cried, but with Mario swinging his hammer and leading the final charge, she didn't stand a chance. Within a matter of seconds she was sprawled on the ground in a defeated slump, Mario and his friends circling her with triumphant looks on their faces.

"_What?_" Rizz shrieked, only just then reminding the group of her presence. "No! No! No! This can't be happening! It _can't! _I've worked too hard for this!"

Mario frowned and folded his arms. "You're not a very gracious loser, are you?" he asked, causing several partners to snicker.

Rizz was bristling with fury. "You haven't heard the last of me, Mario, I _swear _it!" she bellowed, and with that she disappeared in a puff of smoke. After seeing she'd gone, Kammy weakly raised up her wand and gave it a twirl, using a teleportation spell and disappearing along with her.

Sall glanced awkwardly at Bess. "Uh… should we go too?"

Bess scowled and smacked her. "_Yes, _you idiot!" she snapped before vanishing. Sall quickly collected herself and followed after her.

Once everybody had gone, Snatchel grinned and dusted his hands off. "There now! That was mighty easy."

Maizee raised an eyebrow at him. "Darling, you didn't do all that much."

Snatchel looked defensive. "I provided morale!"

In the meantime, Mario let out an exasperated sigh. "Kammy Koopa… working for the Darkstriders?" he moaned, his shoulders drooping. "This just doesn't make any sense at all. There's something going on here we don't know about."

"Yeah… and why d'you think Rizz was so upset when we won?" said Hanner, looking confused. "And what was that 'reward' Kammy was talking about? …Man, this is all really weird."

"Geez, I'm glad to see everybody here's got their _priorities _straight," Goomblaine snorted, gesturing over at the hostages who were still tied up and had witnessed the entire fight.

"Huh? Oh, right," Mario said quickly, putting his hammer away and turning to the hostages. "Are you guys all right?"

"We're fine, thanks," said a Pianta as Hanner and Stubba rushed over to untie them. "Lucky you got here when you did, though. I don't want to find out what she was planning on doing to us…"

"Don't worry, you're safe now!" Stubba said brightly. "Hey, you guys dunno where a key is, do you? 'Cause they locked the door that goes upstairs."

"Hmm… as a matter of fact, we do," said a Toad. "Those blue things hid it up in the ceiling just outside in the hallway. I'm not sure how you're going to reach it without a ladder or something."

Mario frowned in concern. "Really?"

He quickly stepped back into the hallway and saw what the Toad had been talking about. There was a open compartment in the ceiling that looked like it could easily be hiding a key somewhere… but it was high above his head.

"Well, that's great. Ferdinand, you don't think you could fly up there, do you?"

The Bumpty shook his head. "Sorry, man… I'm more of a horizontal dude, know what I mean?"

Suddenly Dulia stuck her head out the door. "Hey Mario, have a look at this," she called him back in. "There's a big chest in here. I wonder if maybe Rizz wasn't trying to protect it?"

"Oh, really?" He walked back in the room, only to realize the chest Dulia was pointing at looked _very _similar to two other ones he'd already come across…

"Ah-ha…" Knowing what was going to happen, he lifted the lid up…

_Mario got the Ultra Boots! He can now use Wall Jump to scale up walls and reach hidden areas! He can also use the Wall Jump in battle to damage enemies even more!_

Mario's eyes widened as he pulled the boots out of the chest. "Woah…"

"Dang, those are some nifty lookin' shoes," said Snatchel, lifting up his hat to get a better look. "You reckon those things might help with our little key problem, Mario?"

Mario suddenly grew a smirk on his face. "Hmm… I wonder…"

––

"Mario, darling, are you _sure _this is a safe idea?" asked Maizee. She and the other partners were all crowded around Mario, who had laced up his new Ultra Boots and was now staring intently up at the hole in the ceiling.

"Don't worry, guys. I've done this tons of times," he promised them. "Just so long as the management doesn't get angry at me for leaving footprints on the walls."

Everyone took a step backwards as Mario steeled himself, clenched his fists… and then took a running start and jumped at the wall.

"WOAH!" gasped Hanner and Stubba as Mario bounced back and forth off the walls, working his way up to the ceiling and having quite a blast.

"YAHOO!" he cheered as he flew back and forth over his partners' heads. "I'll nab that key in no – WAUGH!"

He had made one last jump for the ceiling but ending up falling just a little too short. He went flailing through the air, frantically grabbed onto the ledge at the last second, and ended up dangling from the ceiling.

"Uh… a little help?" he asked lamely.

His partners all glanced at each other, then whistled and backed away. Mario scowled at them before his eyes bulged as he felt his fingers start to slip.

"Oh no – WAAAAAAAAUGH-_oof!_"

He went plummeting to the floor and landed with a loud _thud. _Unfortunately, the shaking caused by his impact caused a crate that was being stored in the ceiling to come shaking loose and slide out of the hole… and fall right on top of him.

"Ooh…" groaned all the partners, except Goomblaine, who was rolling around the ground and snorting in contemptuous laughter. However, they all fell quiet when they noticed that the key they were looking for was resting right on top of the crate.

Mario lifted his head up and grinned weakly. "Heh… told you I could do it."

Hanner shook her head and sighed. "Well, things are always more interesting with you around, Mario."

––

_**Seashell Hotel, Top Floor**_

_**5:59 am**_

"AAAAARGH!" Rizz screamed in frustration, hurling dark energy balls in every direction and destroying the room she was in. "Kammy, you worthless failure! You were more than enough for that fool Mario and you let him defeat you _again? _How can you justify such a pitiful performance?"

Kammy wasn't easily intimidated, but now she was cowering against a wall and feeling just a little bit uneasy. "I – give me another chance, please!" she said, trying to sound reasonable. "I swear, now that we know how strong he is, I can – "

"_No! _You are out of chances, Kammy Koopa!" roared the green Darkstrider, throwing an energy ball right at her. Kammy yelped and ducked out of the way, and the energy ball exploded into the wall directly behind her and took out a large chunk. Kammy glanced at it and gulped.

"You don't understand, do you? If Mario gets this Sun Soul, there is nothing stopping him from going after our lord's greatest treasure! I promised him I'd found someone worthy of protecting it, and – " Rizz let out another scream and punched the wall, leaving a very large dent in it.

"…Umm… uh, yes. Well, good luck with that. Perhaps I should be going now," Kammy said nervously, quickly tottering out of the room. Rizz didn't even notice her leave.

"Jaff is _not _getting the last laugh on me," she fumed. "I'm bringing him down. I'm bringing him down, if it's the last thing I do."


	41. Chapter 6, Part IV

**A/N: **Urgh, I've been having massive writer's block for this particular arc… please don't hate me.

And for those who have been asking what's going to happen during Chapter 7, you will find out very soon…

––––

_**Seashell Hotel, Top Floor**_

_**5:59 am**_

Kammy couldn't have been gone for more than a few minutes before Rizz became aware of someone else in the room with her. She'd been crouched off in a corner and pouting, but suddenly her entire body grew stiff.

"You really thought I wouldn't notice, did you?" came Jaff's voice. "You thought I wouldn't notice that you were stealing the prisoners out from under my nose? That you were subjugating my orders?"

Rizz didn't bother turning to face him. "Your _orders? _In case you've forgotten, you aren't the one in charge here. I'm as much the leader here as you are and I'll do as I please!"

"Yes, and that's worked out so well for you so far, hasn't it?" he laughed. "I see that Magikoopa of yours failed yet again, Rizz… how disappointing."

Rizz bristled dangerously at his taunt. Without warning, she suddenly spun around and threw a punch at him with a scream, but he easily sidestepped it.

"When will you learn, Rizz? No matter what you try, you can't outdo me, and you can't earn our lord's favor over me. You've lost."

"And you've _won?_" she snarled at him. "The last I noticed, Mario was still on his way up!"

"Not for much longer. It's time I told you how to _really_ break a hero, Rizz." He grinned at her growing exasperation. "Mario and his friends have one great weakness, and it's not you or me, or an old hag firing magic spells. It's _each other. _They're so dependent on one another, they can only work if they're together…

"And I think I know just how to fix that."

––

_**Seashell Hotel, 24**__**th**__** Floor**_

_**5:46 am**_

"Ugh… I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting a little tired of all these stupid puzzles," Mario groaned, leaning against the handrail as the group walked up another flight of stairs. "The Darkstriders really went all out trying to keep us from getting to the top, didn't they?"

"I don't know… I think some of them have been really clever," said Dulia. "Like the one in the music bar where the door was voice-activated and would only unlock if you sang that specific song? It's just a good thing Maizee was there."

"It certainly wasn't very smart of them to leave that song on the piano for us to find," Maizee remarked. "As awful as they are, they're not infallible."

They arrived on the next floor and got a look around. "Okay, Ferdinand, what's on this floor," Mario sighed, feeling his legs ache.

"Well let's see… ooh! This is where the ballroom is! The swankiest ballroom on the beach I might add, dudes!" said the Bumpty, looking excited. "All sorts of high-class dudes hold shindigs in this joint."

"Geez, this hotel really does have everything," said Hanner. "Who would _ever _need this all of stuff is totally beyond me…"

"Well, we'd better have a look inside," Mario decided, walking over to the door as his partners followed him. "I'm sure there's something in here we need to – woah."

The moment he pulled the door open, he fell silent.

The room they had just entered was one of the biggest and nicest-looking ballrooms Mario had ever seen. At the periphery of the room was a bunch of round tables covered in pristine white tablecloths, and the dance floor was a flawless polished wood, without a single mark on it.

What _really _stood out, though, was the ceiling. It was a velvety black and adorned in tiny little twinkling lights that looked just like stars, making the whole thing look just like a beautiful night sky.

"Wow… what a pretty ballroom!" Hanner said with a big smile on her face, staring up at the ceiling along with everyone else. "Sure does look expensive…"

"Well, I don't see any Darkstriders or anything important in here, so there's not much of a reason for us to hang around here," Mario decided. "We should probably keep going…"

"Aww, but I'm tired, Mario," said Stubba, plopping down on one of the chairs. "Can't we stay in here just a little bit?"

"Yeah, if there's nothing important in here, it's not like the Darkstriders are gonna come looking for us in here," Hanner snickered.

Mario glanced around and saw that all his partners were looking pretty bushed. "…All right, fine," he decided. "Just for a few minutes, though…"

Everybody sat down at one of the tables, looking relieved to get off their feet for a little bit. Mario couldn't take his eyes off the dance floor, though. He could only guess how many people would fit onto it. What a crazy place this was…

"I bet Peach would kill to have a ballroom like this," he finally said. Then he sighed. "I sure wish she could be here for this. She just loves dancing and other girly stuff like that…"

Dulia was looking sad. "Yeah, I miss Benny too. Boos are supposed to be really good dancers. I think it's something about not having any feet to trip over…"

Suddenly Hanner jumped to her feet. "Aww, come on, you guys! That's no reason for us not to have fun!" Before Mario knew what was happening, she'd grabbed him by the hand and pulled him to his feet. "C'mon Mario, let's have a dance right now! You can pretend I'm Peach!"

"Uh, wha – "

"Yeah! And I can be Benny!" Stubba cheered, grabbing Dulia's hand and leading her out onto the dance floor. Dulia looked completely flabbergasted.

"Hanner, I don't know if we should really – woah," Mario gasped as Hanner suddenly dived right into a brisk waltz, holding his hand with one of hers and putting the other on his shoulder.

"…Oh, wow," he finally laughed once he'd stopped tensing up and started falling into the rhythm. "Hanner, you're quite the dancer. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Um, duh? Dancing's not very useful when you're trying to save the world," she said with a grin as Mario stopped to spin her around. "Oh, this is fun, isn't it Mario? I really wish we could all just do fun things like this as a team more often."

"Well, when we're done saving the world, you pick where we go on vacation, Hanner. In fact, you'd better plan out our whole itinerary."

Stubba and Dulia weren't dancing quite as adroitly as Mario and Hanner, mostly owing to the little Clubba's legs being so short. He still insisted on leading, though, and the two of them were stumbling around the floor as gracefully as they could.

"You look so pretty when you're dancing, Dulia," Stubba said sincerely. "I bet Benny can't wait for you to dance with him!"

Dulia was giggling and looking delighted. "Oh Stubba, you're such a gentleman!"

Snatchel was sitting and watching the whole thing with his head resting in his hand, trying hard to look indifferent and trying even _harder _not to let his gaze travel over to a certain teammate of his.

"Ehh, dancin's so overrated anyhow," he muttered, looking unhappy. "I mean it ain't somethin' that'll ever get you anywhere in life, like fistfightin' or Yoshi wranglin' or – "

He stopped dead as Maizee suddenly came walking up to him with a playful look on her face. "Why Sheriff, this isn't very chivalrous of you… aren't you going to ask me to dance?"

Snatchel sat bolt upright, looking thrilled. "Boy-howdy _am _I! Uh, I mean… I reckon I might could do that for ya, missy."

Hanner was the first one to notice the two of them holding hands and walking onto the dance floor. "Oh, man… Mario, get a load of this…"

"Huh?" Mario turned and looked where Hanner was pointing, and was surprised to see that Snatchel and Maizee had suddenly begun to slow dance. Maizee was wearing a delighted smile and looked as graceful as ever as she danced, but the poor sheriff, who was always so confident, was starting to look more like an awkward high schooler.

"Oh, wow…" the plumber chuckled and shook his head. "What do you know. Took 'em long enough, didn't it?"

"What I wouldn't give for a camera right now. His face is _priceless_," Hanner whispered, trying to contain her laughter.

Mario raised an eyebrow at her. "Hanner, it's not nice to exploit your friends' embarrassing situations for your own amusement."

"Sorry, Mario."

"Aww… are they in love, Dulia?" Stubba asked quietly, figuring she would know.

Dulia was trying to cover her smile with her hand. "It sure looks that way… even if he doesn't realize it yet."

Stubba looked up at her in confusion. "How can he not – "

"Oh, you'll understand one day," she promised him, patting him on the head.

That just made him pout. "That's what everybody says to me…"

Meanwhile, Ferdinand was still sitting at the table and was looking perfectly content to just lean back and watch the others. "Aww… that is _most _righteous. I guess this is what you call _l'amour_, huh dude?"

He was of course talking to Goomblaine, who was facing away from the floor and glaring at a wall. "_Don't_. Talk to me," he hissed.

Ferdinand just shrugged, looking unconcerned as always. "Whatever you say, dude."

A few minutes later, Hanner apparently decided that she and Mario weren't dancing fast enough and promptly began to pick up the pace, laughing as she practically hurled her dance partner across the room. Mario yelped in astonishment at how enthusiastic she was, and of course the other two pairs took this as a challenge and started tearing up the dance floor as well. Very quickly this led to people crashing into each other or getting dizzy to the point of collapsing to the floor, and finally they had no choice but to abandon the endeavor in favor of laughing hysterically.

Not long after, the entire group came staggering out the door of the ballroom as they laughed and gasped for air.

"Well, that was a complete waste of time," said Mario. "But it was still the most fun I've had in weeks."

"I'll say. Hey, guys! Look over here!" said Hanner, suddenly racing off down the hallway. Mario realized she was heading right for the glass door that led to the large balcony outside the building, and everyone followed after her.

"Isn't it beautiful? You can see the whole beach from up here," she said, leaning against the balcony with a smile. "The ocean's so pretty."

Everyone gathered around and looked as well. Mario couldn't help but smile at the sight. Palmy Balmy Beach at this time of day was almost empty, with only a few brave souls swimming or surfing in the not-quite-light. The palm trees rustled gently in the wind, and the deep blue sky, almost bright enough to be morning, covered the whole place in a dark rich hue.

Everyone else seemed to be entranced by the sight too, because for the longest time they did nothing but gaze out at the ocean.

"This is really a magical time of day, isn't it?" Mario finally spoke up. "I mean, it's not quite night, but then it's not quite morning either…"

"I guess Day and Night really aren't so different after all," said Dulia. "Or… you need both of them… or one can't exist without the other… you know, something like that."

Maizee nodded sagely. "They're both important. They always have to be in balance. I suppose that's what being a Guardian is all about, isn't it?"

Hanner frowned. "Yeah… how exactly do we do that, anyway? I mean, it sounds like a really important job, but I've got no idea how it works…"

"Aw, shoot, it can't be that hard," Snatchel laughed. "Not for _us_, anyhow."

The group continued to look out over the ocean – except Goomblaine, who was glaring at the wall and making a point to demonstrate how disinterested he was. Mario hardly even cared anymore, though. All he cared about was that they were all here, sharing this view and preparing to face their uncertain future together. Even if it was just for this brief moment, he had his partners, and they all had him.

It was moments like this that reminded him why his constant struggles to save the world really were worth it.

––

_**Seashell Hotel, 29th floor**_

_**5:56 am**_

Eventually the moment passed and the group realized they had to carry on. They made their way up several more floors, and before long, they were nearly at the very top.

"I can't believe it. We're almost at the top already," said Mario, glancing around warily as they stepped into the hallway. "That means there's probably something _really _nasty keeping us from getting upstairs."

Ferdinand glanced around. "Huh… you sure, dude? I don't see any blue dudes around here…"

"Well, the door's right over here," said Dulia, pointing down the hallway at it. Strangely enough, it didn't look like anything or anyone was guarding it. In fact, it didn't even appear to be locked.

Mario blinked. "It _can't _be that easy. There's no way…"

Still, he walked down the hall right over to it, grabbed the knob and yanked.

It didn't budge.

"What the – " He tried again. Still nothing. He tried again and again. Nothing worked.

The door wasn't locked. But somehow it was sealed up so tightly that Mario couldn't open it no matter how hard he pulled.

"They did _something _to it," he sighed. "Stubba, try breaking it down."

"Okay, Mario," Stubba said reluctantly, walking up and repeatedly bashing the door with all his might. Mario's heart sank when it didn't do a thing.

"Didn't see _this _one comin'," Goomblaine grumbled sarcastically. Mario tried to ignore how he was being as unhelpful as ever.

"Okay, everyone, we can handle this," he said. "There has to be something up here we can use to break the door down. Ferdinand, what's up here?"

"Oh, it's just the kitchen, man… I don't think we can nail this thing with pots and pans, know what I mean?"

"Well, let's have a look anyway."

Mario expected a hotel this fancy would have a big kitchen, and he was right; it was huge. Almost everything in the kitchen was covered in chrome. There were several long rows of counters covered with every cooking implement Mario could imagine, along with all manner of pots and pans hanging from the ceiling… but it was completely empty, and all the lights were off.

"Um… hello? Anybody in here?" Mario called out. No answer. "Uh… I'm starting to wonder if this was a good idea."

Everyone stuck their heads in after Mario, looking a little discouraged at how quiet and still it was.

"…I kinda don't think there's anything in here, Mario," Hanner finally said. "This whole place is empty. It's kinda eerie."

"Well, I guess it would be empty. It's not even six in the morning. Who eats at this hour?" Mario reasoned. Then suddenly, he got an idea. "Now, if it were this time in the _evening…_"

He quickly pulled out the Aeon Hourglass, and everyone crowded around as he flipped it over.

_**Seashell Hotel, 29th Floor**_

_**5:56 pm**_

Sure enough, the kitchen in Dayside was in full use. All the lights were on, and surrounding the group were the sounds of boiling pots, humming ovens, and water hissing from sinks.

What Mario hadn't expected was for the people running the kitchen to be Darkstriders.

"Woah! Hide, guys!" Mario hissed, immediately shoving his partners out of the kitchen and running out after them. Once they were out, he very cautiously drew up to the circular window on the door and peered inside while his partners pushed and shoved each other out of the way as they tried to get a look.

"What on earth are _they _doing in there?" Maizee wondered as they all watched the two Darkstriders racing back and forth with various food dishes in their hands.

"Beats me. But I'll bet you anything they're hiding the key or whatever in there somewhere. There's so many places in there to put it, it'd take us forever to find it even _without _Darkstriders."

"So how do we get in without them catching us?" asked Stubba.

"_You _guys don't go in. It's too risky. I know exactly how to avoid getting caught, though." Mario turned to a specific one of his partners. "Dulia, think you can help me out?"

"Hmm? Oh, sure thing, Mario!"

Dulia quickly put her hand on Mario's shoulder, concentrated hard, and turned him into a Darkstrider in a puff of purple smoke.

"Heh heh… wow, looking good, Mario," Hanner snickered.

"Ugh… I might _look _good, but I feel disgusting," he groaned, looking disdainfully down at his new form.

"C'mon, Mario, we should hurry up before it's too late," said Dulia, who had already transformed herself. The other partners hid safely outside the door and watched as the two of them edged cautiously into the kitchen. They made it in just in time to hear the Darkstriders having a very telling conversation.

"Can you believe that Jaff?" one of them grumbled as he was stirring a pot. "Just because he's so high up in our lord's books he thinks he can boss the rest of us around!"

"You're telling me. If he's hungry, I say he should make his _own _lunch!" the other one snarled as he started pouring the entire contents of a large bottle into another pot. "The nerve of that ridiculous – hey! What are you doing in here?"

Mario and Dulia froze as the Darkstriders glared directly at them. "Uh…"

"You're supposed to be guarding the door, remember?" the second one snapped at them. "What do you think you're doing leaving your post? If Mario actually makes it upstairs – "

"Oh, leave them alone," the first one said. "It's not like Mario can get up to the top floor anyway."

Mario tried not to look surprised. "Really? Uh… why not?"

The first one glared at him. "Did you forget or what? We barricaded the door so tight that you'd need some kind of explosion to break it down," he said. "And it's not like Mario's carrying around a bomb with him!"

Mario very carefully kept his expression neutral. An _explosion? _They had to blow up the door to even make it up to the top? How on earth would they do that?

"But hey, as long as you guys are in here, make yourselves useful. We're going to go take a break – _you _get over there and finish up Jaff's food for us."

"_What?_" Mario demanded before Dulia shoved him in the side. "Oh, I mean… sure. No problem."

"Perfect. And make sure you add plenty of Hot Sauce," he added, pointing at the large bottle next to the pot. "It's his favorite."

"Yeah! Time to go lounge in the pool!" the second one laughed as they both dropped their stuff and strode out the door. Mario and Dulia jumped out of their way a little too quickly as they left.

"Great… _now _what do we do?" Mario sighed as Dulia turned them both back to normal. "We have to _blow up _the door? We're going to get in such big trouble with the management…"

"I think they'll forgive us after we save all their lives, Mario," Dulia said reasonably. "But you're right. We don't have any way to cause an explosion…"

Mario suddenly got an idea. "Hang on. You couldn't just turn into a Bob-omb, could you?"

Dulia frowned. "I don't think that'll work. I mean, Stubba couldn't break the door down, and he's as strong as any Bob-omb."

Mario frowned as well, leaning against the counter in disappointment and trying to think of what they could do. Surely there wasn't anything in this hotel they could use as an explosive. It wasn't safe…

Suddenly he felt his gaze travel over to the bottle of Hot Sauce that the Darkstrider had been pouring into the pot.

"Woah… look at this, Dulia," he said, grabbing it and reading the label. "There's a huge warning label on this thing! It says 'Do not under any circumstances mix this product with Orange Juice. The results will be… _explosive_'?"

"Orange Juice? Really?" Dulia repeated, staring at the label. "Well, that can't be too hard to find, can it? Wow, that was easier than I thought it would be!"

"They must have some in here somewhere. Let's look."

They searched all over the kitchen for a carton of Orange Juice, but they failed to find any at all. Mario did find something else, though.

"Why on earth is that pot rattling so hard?" he said, gazing up on the high shelf where it was resting. Deciding to investigate, he whipped out his new Wall Jump ability and hopped from one shelf to the next, finally reaching the top. He pulled the lid off and stared inside, only to jump back in shock.

"Holy cow… there's a Luma in here!" he gasped, immediately reaching in and pulling out the poor trembling star. "Those guys trapped it in there! I can't believe them sometimes…"

The two of them quickly left the kitchen after that and regrouped with the rest of the partners. Mario filled them in about what they'd heard from the Darkstriders and asked them what they thought about it.

"…So, the only way to break down that door is with an explosion?" asked Maizee, who was examining the bottle of Hot Sauce. "Well, Mario, it seems to me that all we need to do is find some Orange Juice and our problem is solved!"

"Well hey, that's no problemo, dudes," said Ferdinand, vaguely waving off at something outside the building. "There's a juice joint right outside on the beach!"

"Oh yeah, we passed it on our way here," Mario recalled. "Ugh… I don't like the idea of leaving the building, though. The Darkstriders could do something else while we're gone. I think some of you guys had better wait in here and watch the place while we're gone."

Hanner glanced around warily. "You're probably right."

"Oh, and one more thing… as long as we're down there, we'd better set these guys free," he said, pulling out one of the two Lumas he had with him. "Ferdinand, you haven't gotten upgraded at all. You'd better come with."

But to Mario's surprise, Ferdinand shook his head. "Aw, that's nice of you, dude, but if anyone's gonna chill up in here until you get back, it should be yours truly, know what I mean?"

"Uh… what?"

"Well, no offense dude, but I'm the one who knows this place like I know the back of my flipper. I'm probably the best dude to stick around and guard the fort while you're gone."

He looked a little imploringly at the plumber. "C'mon, Mario-dude. You trust me, right?"

"I…" Mario wasn't quite sure what to say. He trusted beyond a doubt that Ferdinand knew his way around here, but he still didn't really like the idea of leaving him in charge of the group. The Bumpty had gone this whole time with that same carefree attitude of his, and he still didn't seem to understand what was really going on…

Mario finally had to shake his head and inwardly scold himself. He was being stupid. If he couldn't trust his partners, then he couldn't trust anyone. Anyway, he'd only be gone for a few minutes, right?

"…Okay, Ferdinand, if you really think you're up to it," he said, trying not to sound reluctant. "You watch the rest of the guys while we're outside."

Ferdinand grinned. "No problem, dude!"

Mario glanced at the Luma in his hand. "Well, we've still got to help these guys, so I guess that means… Snatchel, Dulia, you guys want to get upgraded?"

"Sounds like a plan to me, partner," said Snatchel as Dulia beamed and nodded.

"We'll be back in just a few minutes. You guys will be fine up here until I get back, right?"

"You can count on us, Mario!" Hanner said brightly, giving him a salute. Mario nodded back and quickly escorted Snatchel and Dulia over to the stairs.

Unbeknownst to any of them, a dark figure had been watching them this whole time… and the instant Mario was gone, he grinned.

––

_**Palmy Balmy Beach**_

_**4:59 pm**_

"I really hope nobody on the beach has caught wind of what's going on in here," Mario sighed as he unlocked the front door and pushed it open. "The last thing we need is more innocent people getting involved in – "

"What's going on in there? We heard there's a hostage situation going on!"

"What – " Mario blinked as he realized there was a huge crowd gathered in front of the entrance.

"…Oh, terrific. No, look, everybody – everything's fine. There's nothing going on in there," he said calmly.

"Then what was that _screaming?_"

"You have to let us in there! Somebody has to call the police!"

"Now listen here, everybody! We got this all under control, so quit panickin'!" Snatchel shouted over the commotion, but nobody even paid attention to him. As some of them tried to push their way inside Mario started rapidly running out of patience, so finally he did the only thing he could think of. He pointed far off in the distance and shouted:

"Hey, look over there! Is that Zip Toad?"

"OMIGOSH! WHERE?" shrieked a female Pianta, and within seconds the entire crowd had raced off cheering and shouting at the top of their lungs.

Snatchel blinked. "Oh, right. Uh… I was gonna do that next."

The three of them quickly walked down the beach and over to the Juice Bar, trying to act casual. Mario glanced around and saw that most everyone was still swimming, surfing and playing, and didn't seem to realize what was going on in the hotel. Well, that was a relief, at least. The sooner they rescued everybody, the better.

Within minutes they came walking away from the Juice Bar with Mario holding a fresh glass of Orange Juice in his hands. Next they found the Star Pedestal in an unpopulated section of the beach, nearly hidden by a surrounding circle of palm trees. The two Lumas started jumping around in Mario's pocket as they sensed they were getting close, and he'd barely touched the first one before it came flying out and perched on top of the pedestal.

Finally both of them had been rescued, and both of Mario's partners were upgraded again.

_Snatchel was upgraded to Ultra Rank! He can now use Double Dash to plow through all ground enemies!_

_Dulia was upgraded to Ultra Rank! She can now use Howl to lower all enemies' defenses!_

"Thank you, Mario!" Dulia giggled as the Lumas vanished into the sky. "Now I'm more sure than ever we'll be strong enough to beat those Darkstriders."

"You said it. But now we'd better hurry back inside," said Mario, glancing uneasily over at the hotel. "I want to get back in there as soon as we can… before something bad happens."

––

_**Seashell Hotel, 2**__**nd**__** Floor**_

_**5:02 pm**_

"Man, now I'm getting worried," Hanner sighed, sitting on the bed in their hotel room and swinging her feet. "When's Mario coming back? He's taking forever."

Stubba was jumping up and down on the bed again. "Don't worry, Hanner! Nobody ever beat Mario before! He'll come back soon."

"That's right, darling, I'm sure Mario's doing just fine," said Maizee. "Stubba, honey, don't jump on the bed like that, you're going to hurt yourself."

"Awww…"

Goomblaine was scowling off in the corner of the room and trying to avoid talking to anybody, while Ferdinand was currently standing outside the door. He had valiantly taken it upon himself to guard the room and make sure nothing fishy happened.

That turned out to be a mistake.

"Ha ha ha ha…" came a low laugh from right next to him. Ferdinand jumped and scrambled out of the way, staring in confusion as Jaff suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Dude! Another blue dude!" he cried. He immediately balled his flippers and started shaking them. "You're not getting past me, man! I know martial arts! …Okay, not really, but I've watched a lot of movies!"

"Oh please. I'm not interested in fighting you," Jaff sneered, brushing Ferdinand's fist away. "I'm only here because I have some information you may be interested in. And I can't have that idiotic Mario around getting in my way."

The Bumpty glowered at him before lowering his fists. "I'm warning you, dude. I'm not falling for any of your evil blue dude tricks…"

"What tricks? I may be many things, but dishonest is not one of them," Jaff said calmly. "Now then. I believe you're acquainted with _these _people?"

He snapped his fingers, and a puff of smoke appeared in the middle of the hallway, which dissipated to reveal…

"Ferdie!" cried Sheila. She and the other three Bumpty Boarders were all tied up together, struggling vainly to get free. They all had terrified looks in their eyes, as though they were expecting something awful to happen to them… or something already _had _happened.

Ferdinand let out a horrified yelp and tried to rush over to them, but Jaff leapt in his way.

"Ah-ah-ah. Take one more step and I _guarantee _you will never be able to save them," he growled, opening up his hand as a flickering ball of dark energy materialized in it. Though it took every ounce of his will power, Ferdinand finally sighed and let his arms fall to his side.

"That's better." He closed his hand and the energy ball vanished. "Now then. I've been watching you, and I know you are working together with Mario and friends to liberate this place. And I'm afraid I must put a stop to that."

He took a step toward the Bumpty Boarders. "I'm offering you a chance to save your friends right here and right now… on one condition. You must leave this place and never return."

Ferdinand stared at him. "_What?_"

"Ferdie, man, you shouldn't be listening to this dude! He's not – " Brody tried to shout, only for Jaff to smack him silent with a clawed hand.

"_Hey! _Nobody lays a hand on my bros like that!" Ferdinand shouted, racing forward again. Jaff immediately spun around and smacked him as well, sending him crumpling to the floor.

"You're not _listening, _are you? What did I warn you about taking another step closer?" he sneered. "I see Mario was right about you. You just don't understand."

Ferdinand had been struggling to stand up and holding his head, but now he forgot about everything else.

"…Right about what?"

"Oh, come now. Mario is a hero. He's the only one strong enough to present a threat to our lord. You honestly think he'd recruit someone like _you _unless he had no other choice?" the Darkstrider laughed, relishing the confused look in Ferdinand's eyes. "You know what he says about you? He says you take nothing seriously. You understand nothing that goes on around you. You don't even seem to realize there's a problem when _time freezes!_"

Ferdinand was starting to look desperate. "But… Mario-dude… he'd never…"

"Just face the facts. Mario doesn't want you around, and neither do I." Jaff opened his hand again, and another energy ball slowly began to form. "So here is my offer. Either you take your friends and go, or you stay with Mario… and something very regrettable happens to these four."

The energy ball in his hand had grown huge. "Oh… and choose quickly. I'm very busy."

He aimed the ball at the Bumpty Boarders, who all squealed in fright and tried to shuffle away. Ferdinand was glued to the spot, watching the whole thing helplessly.

He couldn't let his friends get hurt! But he couldn't abandon Mario either! Mario was trying to save the world, even if he still didn't really understand how…

Didn't understand… did Mario really think those things about him? Was he just an annoyance to Mario? Was he really just a slacker who didn't notice that the world was falling to pieces around him?

If something happened to him, would Mario care?

"Time's up," said Jaff. "If you can't decide, I'll just do it for you."

He reared back and prepared to hurl the energy ball at the four helpless Bumpties.

"NO!" Ferdinand shouted, forgetting all about Mario as he scrambled forward and threw himself in Jaff's way.

That was exactly what Jaff wanted. With a wicked grin, he snapped his fingers and all six of them were enveloped in smoke.

That very moment, the door flew open.

"Ferdie?" Hanner cried, sticking her head out the door. "Where… where is he?"

"What's wrong, Hanner?" Stubba asked as the others all followed her outside.

"I… I thought I heard something out here," she said quietly. "I swore I heard Ferdinand… and Jaff."

Everyone stared at her… only to turn around at the sight of Mario, Snatchel and Dulia charging up the stairs.

"Guys! We're back! We got the Orange Juice!" Mario shouted. When he saw the looks on his partners' faces, though, he quickly drew to a stop.

"Guys? What's the matter? What…"

Then he noticed who was missing, and the bottom dropped out of his stomach.

"Guys… where's Ferdinand?" he asked. "Where did he go?"


	42. Chapter 6, Part V

**A/N: **Yaaaaay, 100 favorites! This calls for a celebration! *chugs can of Super Soda and smashes it against forehead*

––––

_**Seashell Hotel, 11**__**th**__** Floor**_

_**5:20 pm**_

"Oh man oh man oh man oh man…" Hanner cried as Mario's team raced up flight after flight of stairs, desperate to get to the very top before it was too late. If the Darkstriders really had taken Ferdinand, there was only one place they could possibly be.

Unfortunately, they didn't make it far without interruptions.

"Where do you think _you're _off too?" cackled a Darkstrider as he and several others came pouring out of the rooms on either side of them.

"We don't have time for this," Mario groaned, he and the others not even bothering to stop or slow down as they approached the assault. "Okay, I'll take the one in the middle, Goomblaine and Hanner can take the ones in the back row, and Dulia, you can – "

He was cut off as Stubba suddenly went zooming past his head, slamming into the Darkstrider in front and performing a flawless Hyper Bounce that left them all sprawled on the ground in defeat within seconds.

"…Or Stubba can just take care of it," said Mario as the little Clubba beamed and wagged his tail.

Their intrusion didn't go unnoticed. Practically every floor they charged their way through was hiding several Darkstriders that jumped out at them, but Mario was so desperate at this point that he charged right into them and dispatched them all with one swing of his hammer. They were tearing up the hotel as they went, but Mario didn't even care anymore.

_I haven't let any of my partners down yet, _he thought. _I'm not about to start now!_

_**Seashell Hotel, 21**__**st**__** Floor**_

_**5:40 pm**_

"Uh oh…" Stubba said nervously as a huge wave of dark imps, even larger than the first one, came charging down the hallway to meet them, causing the chandeliers on the ceiling to rattle. This time Mario skidded to a stop, a determined look set in his face.

"These guys really don't know who they're dealing with, do they," he grumbled. "Maizee, what do you say we teach them a lesson?"

"Sounds like an excellent idea," she said firmly, stepping forward as he took her by the hand.

Together they shouted, "Clean Sweep!"

The Darkstriders all jerked to a stop and stared as an enormous broom suddenly materialized and came down from the ceiling, completely out of nowhere. They realized too late what was about to happen and could only cry out in shock as the huge broom gave one sweeping motion and whisked them all back down the hallway, out of the fight.

"…That was strange," said Dulia, staring along with the others as the broom vanished back to wherever it had come from.

"Eh, I've seen stranger," Mario muttered.

They kept running up and up, and though Mario was getting exhausted and his sides were aching, the thought of what may have been happening to Ferdinand at that very moment kept him going faster and faster. His partners were keeping up with him… but so, unfortunately, were the Darkstriders. More and more of them appeared out of every nook and cranny and started chasing after the heroes, until finally Mario couldn't ignore them any longer.

_**Seashell Hotel, 29**__**th**__** Floor**_

_**5:56 pm**_

"How're you planning on gettin' past all _those _guys?" Goomblaine snapped at him as they came bursting out the door to the 29th floor, the Darkstriders in hot pursuit. They were almost at the top, Mario told himself… just one more floor…

"I don't," he replied. Without stopping, without ever tearing his eyes away from the door leading up, he pulled out the Hot Sauce in one hand and the Orange Juice in the other. He poured the one into the other and shook the concoction as hard as he could.

"This is gonna be big, you guys," he shouted over his shoulder at his partners. "Get ready!"

Everyone braced themselves and covered their ears as Mario wound up and hurled the mixture at the door with all his might. Thankfully, he'd played a decent amount of baseball in his time. His aim was spot-on.

_**KABOOM!**_

There was a deafening blast that shook the hotel and completely blew in the door… along with most of the wall. The hallway flooded with dust and debris as the smoke rushed by their faces, but Mario's team stopped for nothing. Taking advantage of the Darkstriders' obvious confusion and fright, they outraced their pursuers and charged right through the destruction, up the stairs to the very top floor.

––

_**Seashell Hotel, Top Floor**_

_**5:59 pm**_

The room they had just entered looked like it was originally supposed to be a fancy lobby or studio of some kind. It was very big, had a nice wooden floor, and the walls consisted entirely of glass windows through which the entire beach could be seen far below them. The last sliver of sunlight was perched over the ocean, and the dying evening light seeped into the room and turned everything a dull orange.

If there had ever been anything else in there, though, it was gone now. The Darkstriders had gotten rid of it to make room for the dozens of hostages trapped at the far end of the room.

"Holy _cow!_" Hanner gasped at the sight of them.

"Omigosh! Omigosh! Look! It's Ferdinand's friends!" cried Lucille, pointing and flailing. "They'll save us! I know they will!"

"Oh, thank heavens!" gasped the hotel manager. "Mister Mario, please do us a favor and roust these cads, would you? This is truly not very good for business."

"Uh, well, it looks like everybody's okay in here," Mario decided. "But where's – "

"Huh? Mario-dude?"

Mario immediately turned to his right and saw Ferdinand tied up all by himself, flanked by Pell and Nobb. The other Bumpty Boarders were tied up a few feet away. They were looking disheveled and terrified, but Ferdinand was looking more… sad.

"Ferdinand!" Mario gasped, racing toward him only to jerk to a stop as Jaff suddenly materialized in front of him.

"Mario!" he snarled in contempt, and Mario glared right back at him. "So you made it all the way up here… I suppose I shouldn't be surprised."

"What are you doing with Ferdinand?" Mario demanded, absolutely not in the mood for villainous banter at this point. "Let him go now. And while you're at it, let everybody else in here go too."

Jaff just laughed at him. "Why, Mario, I expected more gratitude from you. I only took him off your hands because you didn't want him around."

Mario frowned at him. "What…?"

Jaff gave him a wicked grin. "Or don't you remember? You said yourself, he's not _serious _enough for your little group, didn't you? You said you didn't even know if you could trust him, didn't you?"

"I… oh no…" Mario groaned, covering his face in his hands. He _had _said that… and Jaff had heard all of it? Why did these things _always _end up getting thrown back in his face?

"I'm sorry, Mario-dude," Ferdinand sighed, and Mario jerked his head up to look at him. He hardly even looked like himself. His head was hanging and his spirit looked totally broken.

"You were right about me, man… I'm no good for you dudes. I was stupid and let those blue dudes trick me… I just mess things up."

"Ferdie! Don't say that!" Hanner gasped as the other partners quickly gathered around Mario. "Of course you're good enough for us! We all want you around, don't we, guys?"

The other partners all nodded and vocally agreed, although Maizee had to elbow Snatchel in the side before he did.

Ferdinand started looking confused. "But… Mario-dude… you said…"

"Forget what I said, Ferdinand," Mario said firmly. "And forget what Jaff said. He's just trying to mess with your head so he can break us all apart." Jaff just gave him a glare and a huff that told him he was right. "Look, I didn't know what I was talking about. We need you, Ferdinand. We couldn't have gotten through this hotel without you!"

"This is all very touching, but I'm afraid I – " Jaff began, but Mario just shoved him out of the way before he could finish.

"We're a team, Ferdinand, and you're a part of it! Whether you realize it or not, you _belong _with us!" He steadied his voice. "I know for a fact you do. Because you're the – "

"All right, that's _it!_" Jaff snarled, grabbing Mario by the throat and slamming him against the wall.

He heard his partners gasp and scream as stars erupted before his eyes. "I've had enough of your goody-goody hero act, Mario, so I think I'll end it _right here_," Jaff hissed in his ear. Mario tried to answer, but his air was cut off. He couldn't see, he couldn't breathe, and he was starting to panic.

From behind his sunglasses, Ferdinand's eyes bulged. "WOAH! HEY!"

And the next thing anybody knew, he had snapped the rope that was binding him, thrown Pell and Nobb to the side, hurled himself across the room and tackled Jaff to the floor.

Mario gasped for breath and slid to the floor, grabbing at his throat and staring. "Ferdinand…?"

Jaff instantly leapt to his feet. "Just what do you think you're doing?" he snarled at the Bumpty.

Ferdinand turned to glare at him. "Y'know what, little blue dude? You were right about me," he decided. "I'm just a dude who likes chilling out and having fun. But that's who I am, man! You can't change that!" He balled his flippers. "And it doesn't mean I can't help out Mario-dude all the same! You mess with him or any of my bros, THE GLOVES COME OFF, MAN!"

"WOO! Go Ferdie! You're the bomb!" cheered Sheila from the other side of the room. The other partners all started cheering as well, and Hanner threw her arms around him as they all raced over to join him and Mario.

Jaff began edging backwards as Mario got to his feet and grinned, all seven of his partners standing loyally behind him. "Looks like you failed again, Jaff. It's going to take a lot more than that to tear us apart."

"Yeah! Now give us the Sun Soul and leave this place alone!" Dulia snapped.

"And don't even think a' callin' for yer friends, 'cause we beat every Darkstrider in this hotel!" said Snatchel.

"Not true, actually," came Rizz's voice, and Mario looked up to see that she and her team had suddenly appeared in the room. "You've beaten every Darkstrider in this hotel… except for one."

And that very moment, as if on cue, a huge plume of smoke began to rise up in the middle of the floor. Mario's team stared at it as Jaff and Rizz both stepped backwards, grinning expectantly as they watched.

"Get ready, guys," Mario muttered, steeling himself and gripping his hammer. His partners all braced themselves… but none of them was prepared for what they saw.

If Bowser had been in the room at that moment, he would have instantly recognized the giant Darkstrider that he'd had to battle several days ago. As a matter of fact, Jaff's team had studied that battle very closely, and King Shroude had accordingly made a number of modifications to this particular soldier in order to make it even more powerful than before.

Mario's team found themselves gawking up at a beast of a Darkstrider whose head almost brushed the ceiling, very nearly thicker than it was tall. It was still gripping its enormous mace, but unlike last time, its head was protected by a helmet and its body was covered in thick black armor.

The vacationers all gasped and screamed, trying to shuffle away from it, but obviously there was nowhere for them to go.

"Oh, my…" Maizee said softly.

"Dude…" Ferdinand muttered.

"How do you like that, Mario? We've saved the best for last! Perhaps this will teach you not to underestimate our species!" Jaff cackled. "Now then! Prepare for the last battle of your puny lives!"

And with that, the enormous Darkstrider let out a roar and swung its mace, smashing it into the floor and kicking off the fight.

"Oh, no! Don't do that! You'll ruin the floor!" cried the manager, getting exasperated glares from everybody else.

As the group cautiously backed away, Goomblaine pulled out his phone and used Tattle. "A'right, sounds like this thing's called the Darkogre! It's supposed to be the 'biggest, baddest Darkstrider of all' or something like that. It's got that big mace that it'll smack us around with and it can cause tremors that'll throw us off… and if it gets _really _ticked off it can work itself up and raise its attack power! Oh, but here's the _best _part! That armor it's packin' is so tough that no attacks can hurt it!"

"We'll see about that," said Mario. He ran up and prepared to swing his hammer at his opponent, but the Darkogre cut him off by swinging its own weapon and catching Mario in the side. The plumber let out a cry as he was sent flying sideways into a window.

"Okay, bad idea," he groaned.

"This feller sure means business, don't he?" Snatchel muttered. He tried to run up and tackle it, but it had hardly turned its attention away from Mario before it let out a roar and swung its mace at Snatchel as well. The sheriff put on a panicked look and barely scrambled out of the way in time.

"Guys, don't get close to it! It's not safe!" Hanner shouted at them, hanging back and throwing a volley of hammers at the Darkogre. Her aim was perfect, but her heart sank as each hammer seemed to bounce harmlessly off the monster's armor. It let out an annoyed growl, then came charging right at her in retaliation.

"AAAAHHHHHH!" Hanner screamed, attempting to dive to safety. Dulia immediately performed a Head Missile on the Darkogre in an attempt to throw it off balance, but that didn't do a thing either. The Darkogre howled in fury and swung its mace horizontally, and all the partners screamed and ducked as it passed over their heads.

"None of our attacks are working!" Hanner shouted to Mario as he raced back over to join them.

"What did I _tell _you? Geez, you freaks _never _listen!" Goomblaine snarled at her.

"Okay guys, don't panic," said Mario, though he didn't exactly sound calm himself. "If we can just incapacitate it somehow so it can't defend itself, then we'll have a clear shot."

"I think I have just the thing," Maizee said determinedly. Mario watched as she stepped forward and suddenly began spinning around, generating a cloud of sickly yellow pollen that floated through the air and settled all over the Darkogre. He realized she had just used Pollen Storm, and it worked like a charm; the Darkogre grabbed at its head and began stumbling around, looking dizzy and disoriented.

"Awesome! Killer move, dude!" Ferdinand cheered. He immediately took the opportunity to flutter up to it and perform a flawless Beak Jab right in its chest – and much to everyone's surprise, it roared in pain as it was sent flying backwards and landed on its back.

"…Woah. How'd you do _that?_" asked Hanner.

Ferdinand looked a little surprised himself. "…Don't know my own strength, man."

"Wait a minute – Ferdinand! That move of yours can pierce defense!" Mario realized. "You're the only one who can damage it with that armor on!"

"Woah, seriously?" The Bumpty looked a little nervous. "Uh… thanks for the heads-up, dude."

"Yeah? So what are the _rest _of us s'posed to do?" Goomblaine snapped at him as the Darkogre clumsily got to its feet, trying to shake off the effects of the Pollen Storm. Mario quickly snapped to attention and tried to Power Bounce it in an effort to get it to stay down, but it didn't even seem to notice.

"Ugh… why isn't this working?"

"Guys? It's starting to look angry…" Dulia said nervously. Everyone looked and saw the Darkogre was indeed quickly running out of patience, and it immediately acted on it. It started rapidly stomping the ground and letting out a primal roar, working itself into a frenzy.

"Great… it's raising its attack, right?" Mario groaned. He immediately learned the answer to that firsthand as the Darkstrider swung its mace and hit him right in the stomach.

"Mario!" screamed several partners as he was sent flying across the room and thudding to the floor, just barely avoiding being sent crashing through a window… and down thirty stories.

"Okay, this is not good," he gasped in pain. But the Darkogre wasn't finished yet. In fact, it had apparently decided to get rid of them all right then and there.

It leapt into the air and performed a ground pound on the floor, throwing up a violent tremor that threw all the partners off their feet and sent them crashing painfully back down to the ground.

"Oh great… not again…" Hanner groaned, finding herself sprawled helplessly on her back.

Mario had panicked and squeezed his eyes shut in anticipation of the attack, but he opened them in surprise when he realized he hadn't been hit – possibly because he was floating in the air. He looked up and saw Ferdinand was using Flutter Lift, rapidly flapping his arms in an attempt to keep Mario dangling above the ground.

"You okay down there, Mario-dude?"

"I'm fine," Mario said with a grin. "I'll go help the other guys. You keep attacking it, no matter what!"

He dropped to the ground and ran over to the others, stopping to help Hanner back to her feet. Ferdinand stayed where he was and continued dodging the Darkogre's attacks while delivering a few Beak Jabs of his own. He was certainly doing his job, but Mario didn't think that just one person attacking it was going to be enough…

"If only we could get that armor off," he groaned. "It'd be completely vulnerable without it."

"But how do we do that? None of us are strong enough," Stubba said worriedly.

"You're right, we're not… at least not right now." He glanced over at Snatchel. "But I know a way to fix that."

"I like the way you think, partner!" Snatchel said with an eager grin as he raced over. Mario quickly grabbed his hand – but then he froze in panic as he realized that there were eight of them this time… and they were surrounded by _glass windows._

"Uh… on second thought, we'd better just do me."

"Awww…" Stubba sighed as Snatchel nodded and he and Mario both shouted, "Miracle Grow!"

Mario instantly felt himself growing lightheaded as the room began to spin… and then he shot up until he was as tall as the Darkogre, towering over his partners.

Ferdinand broke off from his heated one-on-one battle and stared. "_Wooooooah! _Mario-dude! You gotta show me how you do that, man!"

"This is terrible! Absolutely terrible! The whole studio will be ruined at this rate!" the manager wailed.

"All right, _now _let's take care of business," Mario said in a loud booming voice, stomping over to the Darkogre. It looked surprised but momentarily started growling defensively and charged over to meet him, bashing him with its mace. Mario shook it off and responded in kind, whacking it squarely over the head with his hammer.

This time, his attack did something. The Darkogre's armor began to rattle, and suddenly several plates fell off and clattered to the floor.

"All right! Now we're getting somewhere!" Hanner cheered. The Darkogre looked less than amused at this, roaring in a rage before doubling its assault against Mario. The plumber gasped as he was forced backwards, unable to block its attacks.

"Let's get in there and help him, guys!" Dulia shouted, and all the other partners came charging forward and unleashed their attacks on the Darkogre. Obviously they didn't harm it at all, but they distracted it enough that it began angrily trying to swipe them away and was unable to keep its attention focused on Mario. And that was just what he needed.

By the time the Miracle Grow wore off and Mario shrank bank down to regular size, he'd knocked all the armor off of their opponent and left it lying uselessly on the floor.

"Dude. Hanging with you dudes is gonna be awesome, I can tell," said Ferdinand.

"Okay guys, this is it! It can't defend itself now, so let's give it everything we've got!" Mario shouted at his team.

"About time!" Goomblaine snarled, throwing himself into a Multibonk without even waiting for Mario's okay. Hanner and Stubba immediately raced into the fray after him, and then Mario himself whipped out his hammer and went to work.

Within seconds the entire team was ganging up on the Darkogre, and this time it felt every blow. But of all people, Ferdinand seemed to be the one leading the assault. He was clearly having the time of his life as he flapped through the air and repeatedly jabbed the Darkogre in the chest, much too quickly for it to block. Even when it threw in a second ground pound and threw the rest of the team off of itself, Ferdinand was obviously unaffected and just gave it a grin as a terrified look filled its eyes.

_Leave it to him to make fun out of something like this, _Mario thought with a smile.

Finally the inevitable happened and, just as they always did, Mario's team came out on top. Mario narrowly dodged a swing from the Darkogre's mace and followed up with one good Power Smash, and that was all it could handle. It let out an anguished howl as its knees gave out, and Mario's team quickly jumped out of the way as it collapsed.

The very instant it hit the ground, it exploded in black smoke that filled up the room and obscured Mario's vision. Several people began shouting in panic, but once the smoke began to clear away, Mario looked and saw that their opponent had disappeared. The biggest, baddest Darkstrider of all was gone.

"Ugh…" he groaned, waving the smoke away from his face as he started coughing. "Uh… I think that's a wrap. Good job, everybody."

The vacationers had been watching this whole thing in fear, and once they realized the threat was gone, they burst into cheers. Mario's team had been busy sighing in relief and were startled by the sudden attention. Not knowing what else to do, they sheepishly grinned at each other and waved.

"We're saved! We're saved! I knew we would be!" Lucille sang happily, jumping up and down. "That Ferdinand is such a dreamboat! He can do anything!"

"My hotel! My hotel! It's ruined!" the manager sobbed.

"_No! No! No!_" came a shout, and everyone who had been cheering quickly fell silent as Jaff shoved the manager out of the way and stormed over to Mario. The smile quickly vanished from the plumber's face.

"_Why _must you impede us at every single turn?" Jaff practically screamed at him, bristling in fury. "This is impossible! _Impossible! _There is no way that _one person _could be this big a thorn in my side!"

Mario just gave him a smug grin. "But that's where you're wrong. It's not just me. It's _all _of us." He gestured at his partners. "We're a team, and true teams always stick together."

Jaff glared at him, but he wasn't finished yet. "In fact, Jaff, if I were you I'd be less concerned about trying to break us up and worry more about your _own _team. You know Rizz has been going behind your back this whole time?"

Jaff's eyes bulged, and he spun around to face her. "YOU _WHAT?_"

"Oh, so you didn't know then," Mario chuckled.

"Yes, it's true," Rizz spat at Jaff. "I've been using the hostages for my own plans. You were a fool to just leave them up here and do nothing with them! I was at least smart enough to use them against Mario!"

"And he _beat _you! He beat _us! All because of you!_"

"Don't blame this on me! This was all _your_ plan!"

"Oh great, this again," Pell groaned as Jaff and Rizz suddenly threw themselves at each other and flew into a fistfight. "Uh, we should probably just leave."

"King Shroude ain't gonna be happy about this… no sir…" Nobb sighed as he and Pell both surrounded themselves in smoke and vanished. Sall and Bess glanced wearily at each other and did the same.

Finally Jaff and Rizz broke apart and realized, to their confusion, their teammates were gone. They glanced nervously at Mario and the others glaring at them and were finally forced to face the fact that they had better run before it was too late.

"DARKSTRIDERS! RETREAT! RETREAT!" Jaff shouted as the two of them shoved their way past Mario's team and went charging back down the stairs. From the lower floors Mario could hear dozens of panicked voices as an uncountable sum of Darkstriders went fleeing down to the bottom floor and out of the hotel as fast as they could go.

"Well, good riddance," Mario muttered as the vacationers all got to their feet, looking very relieved and happy to be free at last.

"My precious hotel… I'm ruined…" the manager sobbed before Lucille gave him an impatient shove in the side. "Er, I mean – I cannot thank you enough for this, Mister Mario. You've saved the Seashell Hotel from an unspeakable fate, and I do believe you've saved our games as well! You are a true hero, sir!"

Mario smiled. "Heh, well… I'm glad to do everything I can."

"Ferdie, man! That was the singular most bodacious thing _ever!_" Brody cheered as he and the other Bumpty Boarders eagerly rushed over to Ferdinand. "You totally wailed on that gnarly blue dude! You saved us all, man!"

"That's why you're our leader, Ferdie… you never let us down, man!" Nico agreed.

Ferdinand just grinned at them. "Aw, of course not, dudes… how could I ever let down a group as all-around righteous as the Bumpty Boarders?"

"BUMPTY BOARDERS FOREVER!" they all cheered, getting a bunch of stares from the other vacationers.

Mario grinned. "Yep, everything's definitely back to normal," he said to himself. Then suddenly, he was distracted by a very familiar glow out of the corner of his eye. "Oh… well, not _quite _everything."

Now that all the smoke was gone, Mario finally noticed what the Darkogre had left behind in its place as it had vanished. It was the Sun Soul, floating a few feet off the ground and glowing fiercely. This one was colored a deep rich blue with a hint of purple – the same color as the sky that was not quite day and not quite night.

His partners all noticed it too, though Ferdinand noticed it last of all. He turned away from his friends and stared at it as it floated over to him, stopping right in front of him.

"Woah… trippy, man…" he said, looking mesmerized. "Uh, Mario-dude… is this the Sun Thing, right? What's it doing chilling out over here?"

Mario put on a smile. "Well, Ferdinand… you remember how we've been looking for the Sun Souls _and _the Guardians, right?" he said. "Well… you're never going to guess who the Guardian is that we've been looking for."

Ferdinand stared at him, blinking slowly several times before it finally seemed to dawn on him.

"Dude… no way…" He slowly reached out and took the Sun Soul in his flippers, and it glowed even more brightly in response. "_No way…_"

"What? Who? Who is it?" cried Brody.

"Dude, I think it's Ferdie," Kane muttered to him.

Ferdinand was, for once, completely dumbfounded. Finally he turned back to Mario with an unsure look on his face. "Mario-dude… you sure about this, man? I mean, you don't think those Guardian dudes messed up, do you?"

"Oh, honey, there's no messing up something like this," Maizee laughed. "You were chosen for a reason, just like the rest of us."

"Didn't I tell you? You _do _belong on this team," said Mario, looking equally amused. "Even if you don't realize it… you're better than you think you are, Ferdinand. You proved that just now."

The other partners all beamed and nodded encouragingly, but Ferdinand still looked uncertain. Was he really meant to be a Guardian? Was he really supposed to fight alongside Mario to save the world? Mario was a hero, but he was just regular guy who took life as it came… wasn't he?

"Aw, come on, Ferdie! Don't be scared!" Sheila suddenly spoke up, and everyone looked at her. "You're gonna be a killer Guardian, man! I mean, you're the most stand-up dude we ever met!"

"Totally, man!" Nico agreed, nodding excitedly. "_Everybody _knows you're the most righteous bro on the beach! You're always talking about being nice to people and doing the right thing and stuff!"

"We couldn't have picked a better Guardian ourselves, man!" Brody cheered.

Ferdinand stared at his friends as though he couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had no idea what to say in reply, but finally he found the words.

"Aw, dudes…" Mario was sure he could hear his voice shaking. "The Bumpty Boarders are the best bros I could ever ask for." He turned to Mario. "Mario-dude! If you really need me that bad, I got your back twenty-four seven, man! Let's go save the world and stuff!"

"Now that's what I like to hear!" Mario cheered, and his partners and the Bumpty Boarders started cheering right along with him. Amidst all the excitement Ferdinand felt his gaze being drawn back to the Sun Soul, and as he looked at it, he realized that he never wanted to let it out of his sight again.

_**Mario found the Dusk Soul! His Star Power is now 6! With Ferdinand's help, he can now use the special move, Square One!**_

**~END OF CHAPTER~**

_Mario and his friends infiltrated the prestigious Seashell Hotel in search of the final Sun Soul. The once-safe hotel had been turned into a stronghold for the malicious Darkstriders… but Mario successfully defeated the dark army and liberated the hotel from its clutches. But most importantly of all, Mario has finally recovered all six Sun Souls! And that means the time has come for him to confront King Shroude and rescue the fair Princess Peach… _

_Doesn't it?_

_**To Be Continued…**_

––––

**A/N: **Soooo, could you tell I made up about 75 percent of this chapter as I went along? :P I hope it turned out all right anyway. This was kind of supposed to be a fun breather chapter, because from here on out, stuff gets real. Starting next update…


	43. Chapter 6 Interlude

**A/N: **It's official, I have the least consistent update schedule ever!

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_**The Temple of the Sun**_

_**00:00**_

Luigi and Toadsworth couldn't help but notice that Peach was in a much better mood than usual. The two of them had been sitting on the Aeon Clock and trying to pass the time, but at the moment she was practically _dancing _around the room, humming to herself and looking carefree.

"Princess Peach… I hope you don't mind my asking, but what exactly are you so happy about?" Luigi finally asked. "I mean, I don't know if you noticed, but we're still trapped in here."

Peach turned around to face him with a big smile. "Oh Luigi, isn't it obvious? Mario is out there looking for the very last Sun Soul right now, don't you remember?" she said. "And he's found every single one of them so far, which means he's bound to find the last one any time now!"

Toadsworth nodded and smiled a little himself. "Ah… I believe I see where you're going with this, Princess."

"That's right… once Mario's found the last Sun Soul, he's going to come here and rescue us! I just know it!" Peach's eyes were shining in excitement. "We're finally getting out of here, you two! And then that King Shroude will finally get what's coming to him!"

"Ah, yes… we never did find out what that bloke was keeping you here for, did we?" said Toadsworth, looking thoughtful. "Ah, well. I suppose that's for the best."

"But if Mario _does _find all the Sun Souls… that King Shroude guy's not going to be happy," Luigi suddenly realized, starting to look nervous. "I sure hope he doesn't take it out on us."

Peach didn't look worried. "I'd like to see him try," she said haughtily. "Mario's going to come and teach him a lesson. There's not a thing he can – "

She was suddenly cut off by a tremendous explosion that shook the room. Peach screamed as she, Luigi and Toadsworth were thrown to the floor, and as quickly as she could she flipped over to see what was going on.

As it turned out, the "explosion" was nothing more than the violent displacement of air and smoke as King Shroude suddenly appeared in the room. The violence of it could probably be explained by the fact that he was currently clenching his fists, fuming and looking more dangerous than ever before.

"YOU!" he bellowed, thrusting a finger at Peach. "_All _of you! You've been feeding information to Mario!"

Peach's eyes widened. "Uh oh…"

"My lord, please, have mercy!" cried Jaff as he and Rizz suddenly appeared behind him, both looking very distraught. "We had no way of knowing – we've done everything you've asked of us – "

"The time for mercy is _over, _Jaff!" Shroude roared at him, turning around and blasting him with a bolt of black electricity from his staff. Jaff screamed as he was sent skidding backwards across the floor, and Rizz was looking more frightened than happy about that.

Peach and the others, of course, were completely terrified at this point.

"_Both _of you are complete failures!" the Master of Night went on, his voice reaching a dangerous pitch as he glared at the two Darkstriders. "Not only did you _somehow _fail to realize that the princess has been extracting information from us _all this time_, but Mario completely humiliated you in the Seashell Hotel! What was supposed to be our last stand has become our worst defeat yet! He has _all six Sun Souls _now, you two! Do you realize what this means?"

Rizz lifted her head up timidly. "To be fair, my lord – "

"Rizz, you are the most at fault of all," Shroude snapped at her, causing her to wince. "Our takeover of the Seashell Hotel would have been a success if you had just swallowed your pride and cooperated with Jaff – but you insisted on doing things your own way! And your Magikoopa, the one you insisted was strong enough to guard my treasure, was defeated yet again!"

He rose up to his full height as he glared down at her. "You've failed me, Rizz. And I have no room for failures in this operation."

Rizz realized too late what he was going to do. She cried out and raised up her arms protectively, but was unable to do a thing as he raised his scepter and blasted her with another dark bolt of lightning.

She exploded into smoke and disappeared.

"Oh my goodness…" Peach whispered. She, Luigi and Toadsworth had all stood up and were crowding together in fear. Peach's mind was racing, desperately trying to think of something, _anything _she could do to get out of here, but the three of them were trapped in here…

Jaff was staring at the place where Rizz had been. "My… my lord, I…"

Shroude instantly turned to him. "The only reason I have not done the same to you, Jaff," he said in a low voice, "is that you seem to have found someone who is worthy of the task at hand."

He stomped his scepter into the floor. "_Bring me King Bowser Koopa._"

Jaff was too frightened to even say anything. He just stared up at Shroude for a moment before slowly backing away, summoning a cloud of smoke and vanishing out of the room.

Then Shroude turned his attention back to Peach, and she froze.

"Well, Princess… you are more clever than I gave you credit for," he said, striding over to the three of them. He sounded calmer now, but every bit as dangerous. "So it's you who has been assisting Mario all this time."

Peach met his glare. "So what if I was?" she snapped. "You honestly think I would let you get away with this? And just so you know, Mario's going to be here any minute. And he's going to make you wish you were never born."

"Uh, Princess… I don't think you should be making him mad…" Luigi said quietly, shaking in his overalls.

But Shroude didn't look angry. Instead he let loose a low, dry chuckle that sent a shiver down Peach's spine.

"Oh, Princess… all this time, and you still know so very little," he said as though it were a shame. "You think Mario's going to save you? He's _doomed _you! If he had just given up like my minions have been advising him to do, you would be safe. I would have no reason to keep you here any longer."

Toadsworth frowned deeply. "What are you blathering on about now, you great horrid brute?"

"What I'm _blathering on about_, my bespotted prisoner, is that Peach would not become a legitimate threat to me unless the six Sun Souls were found and the six new Guardians made aware of their identities," Shroude said impatiently. "I kept her safely imprisoned here in case someone out there tried to do just that – and wouldn't you know, Mario insisted on being a hero and interfering with my plans at every turn."

He drew closer to Peach, his mouth spreading into a toothy grin. "Well the joke's on him, Princess. He thinks with the Guardians on his side he's grown powerful enough to stop me. He doesn't know a thing." The look of triumph on his face made Peach begin to shake. "No, Princess… the only one who can stop me now… the only one with the power to do me in… is you."

And suddenly he raised up his scepter and began waving it over his head. Whatever he was doing, the effect was immediate; Peach gasped as all the weight seemed to drain from her body, and she fell to her knees as her head began to spin, trying to keep from blacking out. On either side of her, Luigi and Toadsworth suddenly did the same, grabbing at their heads and crying out in alarm. What was happening to them?

"What… what are you…" she gasped, but she was cut off as she, Luigi and Toadsworth all began to glow and her vision was completely drowned out by a sickly blinding light…

And everything came rushing back…

––

––

_**Soluna Town**_

_**12:00 Noon**_

"Oh, this is so exciting!" Peach cried happily as she flitted around Rodolfo's living room. "Mario will be back here with the last Sun Soul any minute now! And then we can _finally _defeat King Shroude and return Chronoside to normal!"

"Yes, Mario has done more for us than I ever could have hoped for," Rodolfo agreed, casually dusting his bookshelves to pass the time. "He is a true hero. With any luck he'll lay a beatdown on that good-for-nothing Shroude and this will all be a distant memory before long."

"Uh… say, Mr. Rodolfo, sir," Luigi spoke up from where he was seated on the couch. "You don't know what's going to happen when all six Guardians come back, do you? I mean, is it going to be something big and flashy?"

"I'm afraid I can't answer that," Rodolfo sighed, leaning against a bookshelf. "This sort of thing has never happened before, after all. We're part of history in the making! But whatever happens, I'm certain that – "

"Ohhhh… _ohhhhhh…_" Peach suddenly started moaning. Rodolfo turned around in alarm and saw her grabbing at her head, then at her sides before falling to her knees, knocking over a chair.

"Princess? What's wrong?"

"I… something's happening to… I can't…" she choked out through pained eyes, and then suddenly whatever was affecting her started affecting Luigi and Toadsworth as well. They both started groaning and swaying on their feet, and finally they both dropped to the floor, gasping and panting in rising panic as something indescribable overcame them…

Rodolfo backed into the bookshelf in a panic, causing it to shake. "What's going on here? Princess Peach!"

"Rodolfo…" Peach managed to force out, looking terrified and helpless. "Please… you have to…"

She didn't get to finish before she, Luigi and Toadsworth all started to glow, and then there was a blinding flash that lit up the room.

Rodolfo cried out and threw his arm over his eyes. When the light started dying away, he ever so cautiously lowered it and stared, afraid of what he was about to see.

His blood froze.

Luigi and Toadsworth were still there, lying splayed on the floor with their eyes half open, groaning and looking about to pass out. But Peach… she had vanished.

"Princess?" Rodolfo cried. He frantically looked around the room, then raced around every corner of his house looking for her before finally throwing the door open and calling into the street.

"Princess Peach! Where are you? PRINCESS!"

He received no answer, and as it all began to sink in, he felt his hand slide off the doorknob and drop to his side as he stared off at nothing. Princess Peach was gone.

––

"Bored… bored… _so _bored…" Bowser droned as he wearily stomped through the town, not even paying attention to the occasional passerby who would scream and run in the opposite direction at the sight of him.

"Ugh… this is pointless. It's no use," he finally groaned, coming to a stop in the middle of the street. "Who am I kidding? Those blue freaks aren't coming back for me." He let out an annoyed growl at the memory of them, but he was too tired to be upset for long.

"Man, I can't believe it. This whole trip was nothing but a waste of time," he griped. "I've got nothing to show for it. No princess… no Mario… and _where the heck is Kammy, anyway? _I'm cutting her paycheck if we ever make it out of here!"

He was about to go stomping off somewhere else when he suddenly jerked to a stop at the sound of a very familiar voice.

He whipped around and stared. He suddenly heard _several _voices, and they were all coming from inside a narrow little plaster white house on the other side of the cobblestone street. And there was one voice he recognized beyond any doubt.

"Princess Peach! There you are!" he cried in joy, preparing to stomp over to the house and come bursting in through the wall. _Finally, _he'd found Peach! And she'd been in town this whole time! Maybe this had all been worth it after all…

As he got closer, though, he cautiously drew to a stop with a concerned look on his face. Peach was in there, all right, but all of a sudden she sounded frightened… or in pain. It sounded like something awful was happening to her!

"Peach?" he gasped, but before he could do a thing, there suddenly came a brilliant flash from inside the house, lighting up the windows and momentarily blinding Bowser.

"Woah!" he cried, shielding his eyes before cautiously opening them again and staring. "What the heck's going on in there?"

"King Bowser!"

Bowser snapped to attention and turned around, finding himself staring down at a very familiar Darkstrider.

"Oh, it's you," he growled at Jaff. "So you finally remembered me, huh? Well listen up, pal, I'm in the middle of something important right now."

"King Bowser, I have good news for you," Jaff said shortly, ignoring Bowser's complaints as usual. "Unfortunately, our last maneuver against Mario proved to be… less than successful. Which means you are now the only one standing in between him and our lord's defeat. King Shroude has asked me to bring you to him in preparation to battle Mario."

Bowser's eyes grew wide. "Really? You actually mean it this time?" Then the excited look suddenly fell from his face. "But… but what about Princess Peach?" He glanced back over at the house. "I've been looking all over for her and I just found her! Can't you just give me a minute to – "

"You're looking for Princess Peach?" Jaff repeated with an incredulous look on his face. "…King Bowser, I think there has been a misunderstanding. Princess Peach belongs to King Shroude, not you."

Bowser blinked. "What the heck are you talking about? You mean _you_ guys captured the princess?" He frowned. "But that's not fair! She's _mine! _I was just about to kidnap her fair and square!"

"I'm sorry, King Bowser, but there is a very specific way things work around here." Bowser glared threateningly at him, but he didn't flinch. "And before you start complaining, let me remind you… you do not have a say in things anymore."

Bowser suddenly felt a chilling sensation on his wrist. He looked down and did a double take, staring at his hand with terror in his eyes. The place where Jaff had grabbed him by the wrist before had suddenly begun turning the color of shadow.

"You are a servant of King Shroude now."

Before Bowser could protest, he suddenly found himself enveloped by a plume of black smoke that came rising up from the ground, twisting and billowing around him. He cried out in fear, trying to wave the smoke away, only to feel the temperature around him plummet and the world around him start to spin, until the darkness was all there was.

When the smoke cleared away, Bowser and Jaff were both gone.

––

––

_**The Temple of the Sun**_

_**00:00**_

Peach blearily opened her eyes. She was vaguely aware that she was lying on the floor in the Temple of the Sun, with King Shroude towering over her and grinning in wicked triumph…

Wait! How did she know _that? _She'd never been here before! Just a minute ago she'd been in Rodolfo's house with Luigi and Toadsworth! Where were they?

…She'd been _where? _No, she'd been here this whole time, hadn't she? She'd been sneaking around trying to learn where the Sun Souls were so she could help Mario…

No! She'd _seen _Mario! She'd spoken to him at least half a dozen times! He would stop by and she'd tell him where the Sun Souls were…

But how had she known where they were? She'd found out _here! _But how could she have been here if she was over there? She couldn't… she…

"Ohhhh… ohhhh…" she cried, curling up on the ground and clutching her spinning head. She felt ready to throw up, or faint, or both. She was afraid the whole world would drop out from underneath her. Her mind was a mess, everything was a blur, she had no idea what was going on and if she could just _get her head together…_

It was no use. She had _two _sets of memories rolling around in her head.

"How are you feeling, Princess?" Shroude sneered down at her. Through the midst of her confusion, Peach was finally able to register one thing, and that was how completely helpless she was right now.

"I took the liberty of repairing your broken self, seeing as how you'll hardly be any use to me otherwise," he went on. "And I did the same to your friends, though obviously they're not here anymore. Clearly it was a mistake to have them here in the first place, seeing how the three of you thought it was wise to go sneaking around and sticking your noses where they don't belong."

"What… what are you…" Peach slowly forced herself into a sitting position. "What do you want with me? Why am I here?" Her voice was so breathy and strained it was practically a squeak.

Shroude gave a light chuckle. "And still you haven't figured it out," he said. "You _must _realize what you are by now. A princess of legend. A maiden whose fairness has no equal. It can be no one but you."

"What are you _talking _about?" she shrilled.

"As I have appointed myself the Master of Night, so also must there arise someone to oppose me," he informed her. Even from behind his hair she could feel his eyes boring into her soul. "Day and Night must always remain in balance. But that will no longer be an issue once I've eliminated you myself… Princess Peach, _the Master of Day._"

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**A/N: **Any apparent inconsistencies or inaccuracies will be addressed later in the story.


	44. Post Chapter 6

_**Palmy Balmy Beach**_

_**4:59 pm**_

The manager of the Seashell Hotel was not too happy about how much his hotel had been wrecked in the process of Mario's team saving everyone, but even he realized that he didn't have much right to complain.

"I suppose we'll just have to close again… for _re-_renovations…" he sighed as everyone was gathered on the beach in front of the entrance. "Er, I mean… thank you again, Mister Mario. You are truly a laudable hero for saving us all back there. Once the place is up and running again, you and your friends can stay as long as you like… for free!"

Hanner looked excited. "For free? Really?"

"…Well, maybe half price."

Mario smiled. "Well, that's awfully nice of you, but I don't know when we'll have a chance to come back," he admitted. "Those Darkstriders aren't finished around here yet, and we've got to go take care of them once and for all."

"Aw, Ferdie… you really gotta leave right now, man?" Sheila asked sadly. "We just had that _most _un-tubular hostage thing happen and we're only just now all together again!"

"The beach isn't gonna be the same without you around, man," Nico sighed.

"Hey, don't sweat it, dudes," Ferdinand said brightly. "_Nothing _can keep the Bumpty Boarders apart, remember? As soon as we're all done wailing on those little blue dudes and their big kahuna, I'm heading right back here, man! It'd take a Class 3 tidal wave to keep yours truly off the beach!"

The other Bumpty Boarders all smiled. "Aww… that's what we like to hear, dude!" said Kane, and he and Ferdinand high-fived. "We'll keep the place gnarly for you until you get back! Don't forget, we still got that surf shop in the works!"

Sheila peered over Ferdinand's shoulder and looked at Mario. "And you dudes are coming back too, right? I mean, if you're such good friends of Ferdie, then you're like, the _most _honored guests around here…"

"Aww, can we, Mario?" asked Stubba, looking up at him eagerly. "That'd be so much fun!"

Mario chuckled. "I suppose we'll have to one of these days. This 'vacation' didn't turn out much like a vacation." He suddenly realized someone was missing. "Hey, where's Brody?"

"Oh, he's just off getting Keilani," said Kane. "We're giving you dudes a lift back to Soluna Town, right man?"

"INCOMING!" came a shout, and everyone screamed and jumped out of the way as Brody suddenly came backing the van up from out of nowhere and crashed it right into the wall of the hotel.

"Oops. Uh… my bad, bros."

The manager fell to his knees (or the closest thing Bob-ombs have) in anguish. "NOOOOOO! MY PRECIOUS… oh, forget it."

––

––

_**Soluna Town**_

_**12:00 Noon**_

Once the Bumpty Boarders had dropped off Mario's team back in town, bidden farewell to their fearless leader (with another chorus of "BUMPTY BOARDERS FOREVER") and headed back for waves unknown, Mario immediately started showing Ferdinand around town. There were a couple of places he was eager to explore with the help of his latest partner.

"I actually noticed this a while ago," he said, pointing up at a group of sparkles that were perched on the roof of one of the houses. "I could never reach them before, but with you I can do it, Ferdinand! And then you can finally get upgraded!"

"Righteous. I like the way you think, Mario-dude!"

So they climbed up to an adjacent roof, and Mario held tightly onto Ferdinand's foot as he flapped through the air and over to the roof where the Luma was waiting. He then returned it to the Star Pedestal in the center of town, and Ferdinand watched in awe as it spun around and covered him in sparkles before ascending in a beam of light.

_Ferdinand was upgraded to Super Rank! He can now use Ice Block to attack all enemies and possibly freeze them solid!_

"Sweeeeeeeet," was all he said.

When that was over, Mario finally took care of the issue that was on everyone's mind and guided his partners over to Rodolfo's house as quickly as he could. Mario's heart was pounding in excitement; after all this time, they'd _finally _found all the Sun Souls and the Guardians who owned them. Now all that remained was for them to confront King Shroude and put an end to all this. Mario didn't really know how they would go about that, but he hoped Rodolfo did.

"So what do we do now, dudes?" Ferdinand asked eagerly as he waddled up to the front of the group. "I mean, we've got all the Sun Thingies now, right? So do we just whip out some gnarly Guardian powers and un-whack everything?"

"Actually, we don't really know _what _we're doing from here, Ferdinand," Mario admitted. "I was starting to think we'd never make it this far. But I bet Rodolfo can tell us what to do."

They walked up to the door and Mario gave it a knock. As they all stood waiting, he started tapping his foot and drumming his fingers. Now that they had all the Sun Souls, he was _really _excited to see the others again… especially Peach. She'd be so happy when she heard the good news…

Finally the door opened a crack and the Doogan slowly and cautiously stuck his head out.

"Hey Rodolfo!" Mario said cheerfully. "We're back! We got the very last Sun Soul! Isn't that great?"

"Oh… well… er…" Rodolfo reluctantly pulled the door open a little more, looking around with what looked like nervousness in his eyes. "Yes… yes, I suppose that is good…"

The smile quickly fell from Mario's face.

"Mr. Rodolfo? What's wrong?" asked Dulia.

"You feelin' all right, partner? You look like you done seen a ghost…" Snatchel glanced at Dulia. "Uh… not the friendly circus kind, I mean."

Rodolfo looked back and forth between Mario and his partners, who were all looking back at him with concern. What could be the matter? The Doogan was looking too distraught to even say anything…

And Mario suddenly realized that it was sounding strangely quiet inside his house…

"Oh, Mario… everyone… forgive me," he finally sighed, bowing his head in misery and blinking back tears. "I… I don't understand what's happened, but I… you'd better come have a look."

Mario's heart skipped a beat. "Rodolfo, what's – "

Rodolfo didn't say anything else. He just pulled the door all the way open and reluctantly gestured over to his living room.

Mario briefly turned back to look at his partners, who were all as wide-eyed and wary as he was, and then he finally walked into the house and over to the living room.

The tension in the room was palpable. Luigi and Toadsworth were both seated on the couch, neither of them looking at each other. Luigi was anxiously twiddling his thumbs while Toadsworth's head was bowed in weariness.

Peach wasn't there.

Mario felt himself freezing up all over. Something stabbed him right through the heart. Suddenly the whole world drained away right in front of him and there was nothing, nothing there that mattered except for him and the fact that _Peach was gone._

"Rodolfo…?" he heard himself say. He very slowly turned to the Doogan. "Where… where is Peach? Where _is _she?"

Rodolfo just looked back at him helplessly. "Mario, I… I just don't – "

Mario grabbed him by the shoulders. "Rodolfo! _Where is she?_"

"Mario! Let go of him!" Maizee cried, grabbing his arm and pulling it away. "You have to get a hold of yourself!"

The plumber was fighting back hysterics at this point. "But Peach – someone must have taken her! Somebody _has _to know where she – "

"We know where she is, big bro," came a somber voice. Mario and the others turned to find Luigi looking up at him. "We think so, anyway."

And as Mario got a good look at him, he suddenly realized something else.

"You… you and Toadsworth… you're not split anymore."

"I'm afraid you're right, dear boy," Toadsworth sighed. "I wish we could be happier about that, but… oh, goodness…"

"You guys were right, bro. Our other halves… they _were _in the Temple of the Sun. With that King Shroude guy," Luigi said unhappily. "We remember the whole thing… but we remember being here too. It's really weird…"

Mario quickly got down next to his brother. "Luigi… do you guys know where Peach is? Do… do you remember something?" He tried to hide the tension in his voice but failed miserably.

Luigi looked wistfully at him. "Princess Peach… well, we think… King Shroude must've un-split her, big bro. He did it to us, and we think he did it to her too. Except…" He looked reluctant to finish. "Except she's not here. She must be… with him."

His partners all looked horrified. Mario didn't notice, though. He was too busy staring off at nothing as all the color drained away from his face.

"Oh no… not Princess Peach…" Stubba whispered. "What… what is he gonna do to her?"

"That, I'm afraid we don't know," Rodolfo sighed. "We never did find out why Shroude was so interested in Peach… but he has her now. In her entirety. Oh, Mario…" He bowed his head, as though in mourning. "I'm so, so sorry."

Mario should have said something. He should have lashed out, he should have gotten angry, he should have done a lot of things. But he only had room for one thing in his head, and that was that Peach was _gone_, that Shroude had taken her away from him right under his nose, that he was using her for something and he didn't even know what it was, much less how to save her…

"But why… why now?" he finally asked as he attempted to drag himself back to reality. "If he could have joined her halves together at any time, why did he only do it _now?_"

Rodolfo just shook his head again. "We don't know that either, Mario. We don't know anything about – "

"Then I'm _finding out_," Mario snapped, jumping to his feet and pushing everyone out of the way as he stomped over to the door, not even bothering to give them a look.

His partners briefly stared after him before they hurriedly followed him. "Mario! What are you doing?" asked Hanner.

"Mario, where on earth do you think you're going?" Rodolfo demanded.

"If no one here knows what's happening to Peach, then I'm finding someone who does," Mario said sharply, still not looking at his partners as he stepped out of the house and into the street… and then came to a stop and pulled out the Aeon Hourglass.

His partners all started at the sight of it. "Now hang on, Mario, just _what _are you plannin' on doin' with that thing?" Snatchel demanded.

"We don't know what Shroude wants with her, but his lackeys do," said Mario. "And they're always in Nightside, aren't they?"

Without waiting for a response, he tipped the hourglass over. Before his partners could react, the flash had enveloped them and they were all gone.

––

_**Soluna Town**_

_**12:00 Midnight**_

Mario waited until his vision cleared and looked around. The familiar streets of Soluna Town had once again grown dark and deserted, and the Daytime hubbub was replaced by an eerie silence. Mario wasn't deterred. He knew he'd find what he wanted if he just looked…

"M…Mario? What makes you think those Darkstrider guys are here?" Dulia asked nervously, though whether that was because of the darkness or his sudden change in attitude, he didn't know.

"They're always following us, that's what," he said. "And they _know _we have all the Sun Souls and they _know _we always come back here for information. There's no way they're letting us get out of this without a fight."

"Mario." He turned and saw Maizee looking at him firmly. "You need to stop this. You're being irrational. Why are you getting so upset about this? Peach is kidnapped all the time, isn't she?"

"By _Bowser, _yes!" Mario shouted. "But he would never hurt her! He'd rather die! The last time Peach was kidnapped by somebody _else_ and she hadn't escaped by now, I…"

He tried to fight back the memory of a huge golden crown and a pair of enormous purple hands, and how he'd stood there screaming and unable to do a single thing about it…

"…I almost lost her…"

"But Mario… we dunno if Peach is really in trouble," Stubba said timidly. "Maybe she's okay! Maybe she got away this time!"

"Maybe. But we're finding out for sure," Mario said quietly. "And those Darkstriders are the only ones who know what's going on. We're finding them."

After a few minutes of walking through town, Mario's suspicions about them turned out to be right. He suddenly came to a stop as he heard the sound of someone skittering across the roof directly above them.

"You hear that?" Hanner whispered, looking up at the roof.

"I sure did." Not only that, but he could make out a dark, imp-shaped figure crouched on top of the building, and he was sure it was gazing down at them.

"Dude… it's that gnarly green chick from the hotel!" Ferdinand realized. "What's she doing here?"

"You guys wait here," Mario said in a low voice. "I'll take care of this."

He slowly and cautiously turned into the alley that separated the building from the one next to it. He looked up at the roof, took a deep breath and braced himself, and then performed his Wall Jump, bouncing back and forth between the walls before he finally scrabbled onto the roof and hoisted himself up.

"_You!_" hissed the dark figure, and he instantly recognized Rizz's voice.

"Me," he agreed, and he threw himself at her before she could even react.

Several minutes later, Rizz was on the ground and surrounded by Mario and all of his partners in an impermeable circle. She was bristling and hissing in exasperation, but she knew she couldn't get away.

"Okay Rizz, we want answers," said Mario. "What does Shroude want with Peach? Why is he holding her captive? And if he wants her so badly then _why _did he leave her split in half for so long?"

Rizz just glared at him. "Are you _really _that thick-headed, Mario? After that unforgivable defeat you handed us in the Seashell Hotel, what makes you think I'm going to tell you _anything?_"

Mario gripped his hammer. "Because I know how to use this thing _very _well. Trust me."

Goomblaine stared at him as if he were a complete idiot. "What the heck are you _doin'_, Fat Man? You seriously think you're gonna get _anything _outta her?"

Mario looked at him coldly. "Yes. I seriously do." He turned back to Rizz. "I'm warning you. You'll be much better off if you tell us what we want to know. Because if anything happens to her – if Shroude does _anything _to her, I'll – "

"You're out of your mind!" Rizz shouted, catching Mario by surprise and shoving him out of the way. He gasped as he collapsed to the ground and Rizz took off, scampering off into the darkness –

"Where d'you think _you're _goin', freakshow?" Goomblaine snarled in a _very _loud voice as he jumped directly in front of her, baring his fangs and bearing down on her with a threatening air that Mario hadn't thought possible for someone so short. His glare seemed to pierce through her as she gasped and actually took a few steps backward at the sight of him, staring back at him with frightened eyes.

Mario realized to his surprise that Goomblaine was using Intimidate on her. She was too scared to run away.

"Thanks, Goomblaine," he said breathlessly as he and the others walked up to her.

The look Goomblaine gave him was no less cruel. "Don't thank me. This is _your _dumb fool idea. You deal with it."

"Right. Okay." He turned to Rizz, who was still trembling slightly. "This is your last chance, Rizz. You tell me what Shroude is doing to Peach. And don't try anything funny."

Obviously trying to salvage some of her pride, Rizz turned to him with a sneer.

"I have a better idea," she said. "I'll tell you what you want to know, Mario… as long as you do something for me."

Mario scoffed. "Like what?"

"All I ask is for another chance to win my lord's favor," she said sternly. "And you can help me with that, Mario. Unfortunately, King Shroude recently saw fit to… dismiss me from his service."

Mario heard some of his partners snickering. "Is that so?" he asked, not feeling very bad for her.

"And if that fool Jaff's plan actually _works_,then he will have the position that rightfully belongs to me," she hissed spitefully. "All _you _need to do for me, Mario, is ruin that plan of his. Prove to King Shroude that he is a failure. Defeat that ridiculous oaf whom Jaff has found to guard our lord's treasure."

Mario stared at her. "Treasure? What treasure?"

She gave him an amused look. "Oh, you don't even know _that? _Well, that's not really crucial for you to find out, now is it?"

Right on cue, Goomblaine gave her another threatening snarl.

"All right, all _right_," she muttered, quickly shuffling away from him. "Well everyone, you'd better take notes, because you're in for quite an educational experience."

She straightened up to her full height and gave Mario a matter-of-fact look. "There is a seventh Sun Soul."

Mario felt his grip on his hammer weaken.

"There's a _what?_" Hanner cried. "What are you talking about? How can there be _seven? _There's only six Guardians!"

"That is true," Rizz agreed. "There are six Guardians of Day… and there is one _Master _of Day."

Everyone stared at her.

"A _Master _of Day?" Dulia repeated. "But… who? Who is it?"

"Oh, please. I'm sure you can at least figure _that _out," Rizz sneered at her. "Because our lord appointed himself the Master of Night, the laws of balance that govern our world dictate that a Master of Day must also come into existence. That person must be his opposite. They must balance him, being as bright and pure as he is dark. I'm sure you know someone like that, Mario."

Mario felt his knees growing weak. "It's Peach," he said quietly. "The Master of Day is Peach."

"So then… that seventh Sun Dealy belongs to the princess?" guessed Ferdinand. "Woah. That's deep, man."

Hanner suddenly realized something. "But – wait a minute! How could it be Peach? It _couldn't _be! She was split in half like everybody else, wasn't she? And if the _Guardians _can't be split, then there's no way – "

"She _was _split in half," Rizz corrected her. "I think you'll find that's no longer the case."

She shot Mario a wicked grin, and it was all he could do to restrain himself.

"The seventh Sun Soul came into existence at the same time as the other six, but its powers were dormant. It did not yet recognize its true owner… nor would it, until the other six Sun Souls were united with the ones chosen to be the new Guardians. The Master has no power of her own without the Guardians, after all."

She swept her gaze over them all. "The moment the last Sun Soul was found by the last Guardian – " Ferdinand started feeling awkward. " – its powers were activated, and the identity of its owner was revealed."

"I see…" said Maizee. "So that's why Peach was split until now… she effectively _wasn't _the Master of Day until very recently."

"Wait a minute." Mario was not at all happy to hear this. "You're saying – you're saying the reason Peach isn't in Dayside anymore – the reason she's _completely _captured by Shroude – is all because of us? Because of _me?_" he cried. "Every time we found a Sun Soul we were just dragging her closer into danger? It would've been safer for her if I'd _never even started?_"

Rizz grinned at him again. "So it would seem. Funny how fate works out, isn't it?"

He growled and tried to throw himself at her before Snatchel grabbed him. "Would ya _calm down _already? I _know _yer worried about Peach but this ain't the way to go about it!"

"What is he going to do to her?" Mario demanded. "What is he going to do to Peach?"

"Well, the answer to that should be self-evident," Rizz sniffed. "Our lord's plan wasn't to separate Day and Night, after all. It was to completely eliminate Day. And what better way to do that than to eliminate the _Master _of Day – whom you were kind enough to bring into existence, Mario."

There was a roaring silence, broken only by the hammer dropping out of Mario's nerveless hand and thudding onto the ground.

"You… you can't…" he said softly. "No. No no no no. He's not – you're not serious."

"I am always serious."

The partners were staring at Rizz in horror. Mario was staring at nothing. He was staring into a dark abyss that swallowed him up as he grabbed at his head and his knees gave out from underneath him. This wasn't happening. It wasn't. Peach was kidnapped for a lot of things – for love, maybe, to be used as a pawn in an evil scheme, yes, but not to be killed, _never to be killed._

"Mario? Mario!" Stubba cried in alarm, starting to shake him, but he was too far gone to do anything about it. He thought he felt tears running down his face, but it didn't even register. It wasn't right, it wasn't _fair – _even the last time he'd almost lost her he'd been right there to save her, but now she was gone, she was gone and she was missing and someone was going to _end her game _and it was _all his fault –_

"MARIO!" Hanner shouted in his ear, and he jolted back to the real world.

"I… I…" He looked at the worried looks his partners were giving him before he buried his face in his hands. "I'm so sorry…"

"If you're really that concerned, Mario, then I think you'll appreciate my proposition," said Rizz, not moved at all by his plight. "As I said, Jaff has found someone to protect this seventh Sun Soul. It is absolutely crucial to our lord's plan that Princess Peach _not _have that Sun Soul in her possession, for she will then grow powerful enough to be his equal."

"Then I guess we'd better get that Sun Soul to her before it's too late, huh?" said Hanner. "So where is it?"

"In King Shroude's Fortress. Only a Darkstrider knows the way there, but I can transport all of you there, if you so desire."

Mario nodded. "Then do it."

"Hang on…" Hanner grabbed Mario by the shoulder and steered him away from Rizz. "Uh… Mario, do you really think we should be trusting her this much? I mean, if she wants us to _lose_, then why's she helping us?"

"Because she thinks we can beat Jaff… but she _doesn't _think we can beat Shroude," Mario decided. "Well, we'll just have to prove her wrong."

"Are you quite _ready _yet? I don't have all night," Rizz snapped at him. "And make sure you don't humiliate yourselves while you're there. This is all for me, you know."

Mario turned back to her. "All right. We're ready. Get us to King Shroude's Fortress."

He and all the partners slowly drew in around Rizz as she lowered her head in concentration. Beads of sweat started to form on her forehead as she muttered something under her breath, and then finally she raised both arms high above her head.

Mario and his friends gasped in shock as a huge plume of black smoke suddenly came spiraling up from the ground, surrounding all of them and smothering out the outside world. They nervously crowded together as the air around them grew cold and the world seemed to vanish around them.

Then the smoke dissipated, and the streets of Soluna Town were deserted once again, leaving no sign that anyone was ever there.

––––

**A/N: **Please tell me if Mario was too much of a jerkass. I'm trying to make him flawed but sympathetic. It's a lot harder than it sounds.

Oh, and Happy New Year! :3


	45. Chapter 7, Part I

**Chapter 7:**

**The Sun Soul in the Shadow**

––

_**Dark Dimension**_

_**12:00 Midnight**_

After a moment the smoke finally died away and drifted off. Mario's eyes were tearing up as he coughed and tried to wave the remaining smoke away. Once he'd succeeded, he rubbed his eyes and looked around…

And saw, for the first time, where they were.

It was a dark, barren wasteland. The ground beneath them was dry and cracked, and the only sign that anything had ever lived there was a few dried-up shrubs and dead trees sticking up here and there. But the strangest thing about the land was its color; rather than being covered in the Nighttime darkness, the trees, the grass, the ground were all eerily pale, almost white, as though they were part of a film negative.

However bad that was, the sky was worse. It looked unnaturally huge and vaulting, and it was pitch black… blacker than Mario had ever seen it at home. It was filled with stars, which should have comforted him a little, except they were definitely not constellations he had ever seen before and they were all shining with a wicked light. What would the rest of the Mushroom Kingdom say about this? They had always revered the stars so much…

Mario was suddenly getting very nervous.

"Guys…" he said warily as he looked around. "I… don't think we're in Chronoside anymore…"

"This… this is where King Shroude and the Darkstriders live?" Maizee wondered. "But… what an awful place… and they want to make the rest of the world this way?"

Mario kept staring around, getting more and more uneasy. Not only did the whole place look wrong, it _felt _wrong. There was a supernatural chill in the air that was screaming at him to leave, and the sky seemed to be pressing down on everything like a thick black blanket, smothering out all life. This was not the way Night was supposed to be.

"This is what Chronoside will be like… if he wins…"

Suddenly a chilling thought occurred to him. He quickly reached for the Aeon Hourglass and pulled it out… and his heart immediately sank. He could already tell something was wrong with it; its gold seemed to have faded, and the silver sand inside of it was no longer bright and glimmering, but dark and dull. It looked just like an ordinary hourglass now…

Taking a deep breath, Mario turned it over, and just as he had dreaded, nothing happened. The sand fell through the glass, but there was no glowing, no bright flash, and most of all, the group stayed exactly where they were. The hourglass couldn't bring them from Night to Day, because Day didn't exist here.

"This can't be good…" he whispered, beginning to think things couldn't get any worse. Of course, he was wrong.

"Hey guys?" Everyone turned to look at Hanner. "Where's… where's Rizz?"

Mario jolted and looked around, realizing along with everyone else that she was nowhere to be found.

"I don't rightly believe it… that gal done stranded us here!" Snatchel said angrily.

"But… but now how are we gonna get back home?" cried Stubba.

"I… I don't know…" Mario realized, getting a chill all over as he did. "Maybe… hopefully when we find that last Sun Soul, everything will get straightened out…"

"Uh, speaking of which, dude," Ferdinand spoke up. "Didn't the green chick say we're supposed to be looking in a fortress? I'm not espy-ing one of those right now."

"Well, it's gotta be around here somewhere. And it won't be hard to find in a place like this," said Mario. "Come on, guys… we should hurry."

So they set off across the wasteland, though it looked the same in every direction and they really had no idea whether they were going the right way at all. But Mario couldn't bring himself to stop, or even think very rationally as they went. He could only think about one thing.

_King Shroude has Peach… he has her, and if we don't save her he's going to…_

_No. We're saving her. We have to. We… we just have to._

Apart from the trees and shrubs, the only other features of the landscape were occasional rocky mesas, as staunchly pale as everything else under the sky. The only enemies to be found around here were Swoopulas… or so it seemed at first.

"WAAAAUAGH!" Hanner shrieked as a seemingly-dead tree suddenly reached down and grabbed her in a spindly branch of a hand, then snapped back up and started flailing her back and forth.

"Hanner!" Mario cried as he raced up underneath her. "What – what _is _that thing?"

"It's a Treevil," Goomblaine grumbled as he looked at his phone. "They make themselves look like normal trees, then when people go walking by they grab 'em up and start ripping 'em apart."

"THEY DO _WHAT?_" Mario screamed, yanking out his hammer and taking care of the Treevil in record speed. As it let out a shudder and collapsed into timber, Hanner fell to the ground with a painful thud.

"Owww… thanks, Mario," she groaned.

"This whole place is backwards… _everything's _trying to get rid of us," Dulia whimpered nervously.

"Which is why we're finding that fortress before anything else happens," Mario said decisively, hauling Hanner back to her feet.

So they kept on going through the imposing darkness, being careful to stay away from any trees this time. As they went, though, Mario began to suspect they were going in the right direction after all… because the farther they went, the more tense he began to feel.

"Hey, what's up there?" Hanner asked after a long while, and he looked up and realized that the ground several yards ahead of them suddenly dropped off. Though they couldn't see all the way to the bottom from here, they saw that the ground rose back up a large distance away, and it seemed to form a curved slope as it did. They were walking directly toward what looked like a huge crater.

Mario quickly came to a stop. "Woah… uh, I think we found something…"

Ever so slowly and cautiously, the group of heroes walked up to the edge and peered over, gazing down at what was below them.

As they did, the temperature around them seemed to drop several more degrees.

"We made it," Mario said quietly. "We're here."

Several dozen feet below them, standing in the middle of the crater, was King Shroude's Fortress. It was just how Mario had expected it to be: tall, stark, cold and militaristic. It was made out of bricks of gray stone and had a row of small windows circling its walls above a set of huge wooden double doors. There were several Darkstriders pacing back and forth across the battlements, on the lookout for anyone who might be trying to sneak inside.

Not only that, but there were dozens of Darkstriders gathered around the courtyard in front of the fortress as well. They seemed to be mobilizing, or running through a drill, or something similar. In any case, it was clear that just walking in through the front door was now completely out of the question.

Mario's heart sank. Peach's only hope was in there… but what could they do? How would they reach it now?

"This don't look good…" Snatchel muttered as they all peered down. "How d'you reckon we're gettin' in there?"

"And what are they gonna do if they catch us?" Stubba said nervously, suddenly realizing along with the others how very likely that was.

"They're not going to catch us. Remember, if worse comes to worst, we've got a Duplighost," Mario said before turning to face his partners. "Okay guys… we're definitely not making it in through the front. On the count of three, we run down to the back side of the fortress as fast as we can, before anybody sees us. Got it?"

They all nodded. Mario turned and looked back at the fortress, fixing his gaze on it.

"One… two…"

"HEY!"

"Woah – " Mario was so startled that he immediately lost his balance, flailing his arms frantically before falling over and barely stopping himself before he tumbled into the crater.

"Mario! Are you okay?" asked Dulia, only to turn around with the other partners and realize who had just shouted at Mario and startled him.

"You're all the new recruits, aren't you?" asked the very thick, heavyset Darkstrider who was suddenly standing among them. "You're the ones King Shroude called in to guard the fortress while he's away?"

"Uh…" Mario stared at him. His immediate terror at having been discovered slowly abated as he realized this Darkstrider had no idea who they were.

"What are you all doing lollygagging up here?" the Darkstrider demanded, not even waiting for an answer. "We've been waiting for all of you long enough! With all of our lord's forces infiltrating the Temple of the Sun, we need as many people as we can back here!"

Mario was still at a loss. "Oh, uh… sorry."

The Darkstrider just shook his head. "Ugh, you can't find good help these days… go on, get down there! Orientation starts immediately!" He gave Mario a shove, causing the plumber to stumble a good way down the slope of the crater before finally catching himself and walking the rest of the way down. His partners quickly followed after him.

"Uh… this is bad, right?" Ferdinand said quietly as they all glanced uneasily back at their captor, who was following them down without taking his eyes off of them.

"But why do they think we're working for Shroude if we're not Darkstriders?" Hanner whispered.

"Well, Darkstriders aren't the only species living around here. We sort of found that out the hard way… but guys, don't panic, okay?" said Mario, looking around and making sure he wasn't overheard. "They don't… seem to know who we are, so let's just play along and maybe we can fake our way in there. This might be easier than we thought."

––

Naturally, he was wrong.

Several minutes later, Mario and his partners were all standing in a row in front of the entrance to the fortress, self-consciously trying to keep their backs as straight as possible (except Goomblaine, who couldn't even be bothered) as their commanding officer paced back and forth in front of them.

Standing in rows along with them were dozens of nasty-looking Darkstriders… and a few other creatures besides. Mario's guess had been right; there were other species living in this dark dimension, and it seemed that King Shroude had them in his service as well. Unfortunately for Mario and his friends, most of them looked like something you'd find by flipping over a rock. Stubba was whimpering and trying to edge away as he found himself standing in front of what looked like a black, hairy Wiggler with sharp fangs and too many eyes.

"Now listen up, recruits," said the Officer as he continued to pace. "I'm sure you are all aware of the importance of your task. You have all been selected by King Shroude for a reason: he has left this fortress under our watch while he seizes control of the Temple of the Sun. You must be prepared to guard this fortress with your lives if necessary."

Most of the other recruits grew determined, serious looks on their faces. Mario glanced around at them, feeling more awkward than ever.

"As you have been informed, King Shroude's great treasure, the seventh Sun Soul, is being guarded within our fortress. It is absolutely _crucial _that this Sun Soul be properly guarded, as our lord cannot be here to guard it himself."

"Uh… hang on a minute," Mario spoke up as a thought suddenly entered his head. He almost immediately regretted it, as the Officer and all the other recruits immediately turned to look at him.

"Uh… it's just…" he said timidly. "We heard that King Shroude already found somebody to guard the Sun Soul. You wouldn't… happen to know who that is, would you?"

The Officer glared at Mario. "That does not concern any of you. And anyway, we still require every available set of hands to guard this fortress. So don't even think of slacking off, or you may expect to face our lord's wrath. If all goes as planned, the accursed owner of this Sun Soul will soon be gone from this world forever, and our lord will be free to shape the entire world in an image of ours. A world of only darkness!"

The other recruits all roared in agreement. It was all Mario could do not to go berserk at his talking about Peach like that, but he managed.

"No longer will we be confined to this frigid wasteland, rotting away in a forgotten corner of the world!" the Officer went on with a sudden zeal. "Under our lord's guidance, the entire world will soon be fit for us to live in! With the destruction of Day, this world will be _ours!_"

Mario winced at the loud cheering as the recruits started jumping up and down in excitement. Hanner had to uneasily inch away from the one standing nearest her, who was some sort of mixture of a dog and a gargoyle, complete with leathery wings.

_But if Shroude really does win, the whole world will become a wasteland like this one, _Mario thought glumly. _It won't be fit for _anyone _to live in._

"But this vision will only become a reality if you all do your jobs," the Officer concluded. "So _don't screw anything up!_"

"Yeah, that sounds great. We can't wait," Mario said shortly, getting desperate to get out of here as fast as we could. "So I guess we'll just head in the fortress and get to work, huh?"

"Not so fast!" said the Officer, stepping in front of Mario and making him wince. "No recruits are allowed inside the fortress without first completing the training course. We need to make sure our sentries are capable, after all. Once you've completed the course, you'll be issued your weapon and granted access inside."

Mario stared at him. "Training course?"

"Yes, you idiot. _That _training course," the Officer said impatiently, pointing at something to their left. Mario and the other recruits turned… and found themselves staring up at a huge, seemingly impossible obstacle course.

While some of the other recruits looked excited, Mario quickly balked at the sight of it. "We… have to… finish _that?_"

"Unless you'd prefer being relieved of your duty. If you can't complete something as simple as this, you are clearly unfit to serve our lord."

"Oh, fine," Mario groaned. It was times like this he wished he weren't quite so chubby.

"Hey, no sweat, man," said Ferdinand, giving Mario another slap on the back. "We'll all be here for emotional support, right dudes?"

"Excuse me, but I think you misheard me," the Officer said sternly. "I said _all _of you must complete the course."

Ferdinand paused for a moment. "Oh… bummer, man."

––

And the next thing Mario knew, he and all the other recruits were running the course. It was every bit as unpleasant as he'd anticipated.

"Are you doing all right, Mario?" Maizee called over. They were currently hopping across a series of tall, wide wooden poles that were spaced far apart from each other. Falling off would mean a very painful drop.

"Oh… yeah. I'm… doing great," he muttered through gritted teeth as he bent his short legs and sprang from one pole to the next. "They don't… call me Jumpman for nothing."

"I didn't know they called you Jumpman at all," said Dulia, who was having a much easier time due to her floating ability.

"Couldn't we have just taken a written exam?" Hanner whimpered as she stood on one foot atop one of the poles, frantically flailing her arms. The weight of her shell was definitely not helping her keep balance.

"One side, hammer head!" Goomblaine snapped as he came hopping up next to her, shoving her out of the way to make room for himself. Hanner shrieked as she toppled off the pole, only to grab onto the ledge at the last second and find herself dangling off the ground. Goomblaine just went hopping on ahead without even looking back.

"Goomblaine! Don't you even care about – " Mario quickly fell silent and shook his head impatiently. Of course Goomblaine didn't care. He'd proven that numerous times over the past few weeks.

The next part of the course involved scaling a tall brick wall with nothing but a rope to climb up. Everyone else was visibly struggling, but when Mario saw what was ahead he just put on a sly grin and Wall Jumped up the whole thing, leaving everyone (including his partners) glaring after him.

After that, they had to walk across a narrow rope that was suspended several feet above the ground. That wouldn't have been so hard… if it weren't for the fact that lining the rope on both sides were a row of Bullet Bill Blasters.

Mario grew pale at the sight of it. "You've gotta be joking."

Nonetheless, they valiantly plowed through it one at a time. Stubba had the easiest time since he was so short and close to the ground, the wild volley of Bullet Bills usually firing right over his head. Ferdinand blithely dodged every one of them by flapping into the air, and Hanner somehow got it into her head to whack the offending Bullet Bills away with her hammer. That didn't work out too well.

"I hate my life," she muttered after making it across on her fifth try.

"Okay, that wasn't so hard," said Mario once the group had all gathered together. "So now all we have left to do is AAAAAUGH!"

He was cut off as an enormous Thwomp suddenly came crashing to the ground just inches in front of his face. He and his partners looked and realized that there was a line of at least a dozen Thwomps rising and falling at odd intervals… and they would have to run through all of them.

Mario stared at the gauntlet in front of them. "Uh… anyone have a suggestion?"

"Don't screw up?" Goomblaine sneered.

The entire group glanced uneasily at each other, then turned, took a collective breath… and ran through the rising and falling Thwomps while screaming at the top of their lungs.

––

When it was all over, Mario was sprawled on the ground next to his partners, panting heavily and not even attempting to salvage his dignity.

"Well, that was… not the most pleasant thing we've done," Maizee sighed wearily as she sat on the ground.

"Heh, I weren't scared," Snatchel said with a tired grin, obviously not being truthful.

"Well, congratulations. I didn't see that coming, but you all successfully completed the training course," said the Officer, standing with his hands behind his back and looking as stern as always. "Now whenever you feel like standing up, you may receive your weapon."

"Huh? Oh, right," said Mario, reluctantly dragging himself to his feet with a groan.

"This hammer will grant you access into King Shroude's Fortress. Remember, your job is to guard the Sun Soul, and nothing else. Do _not _fail in this task." Mario nodded obligingly, and the Officer held out what would be Mario's final weapon.

_Mario got the Ultra Hammer! He can use this hammer to destroy metal blocks that are in his way! He can also use the Ultra Hammer in battle to do even more damage to enemies!_

"Oh… terrific!" said Mario, suddenly brightening up quite a bit as he held his new hammer in his hands. "Thanks a lot!"

"Yes, yes. Just hope for _your_ sake you actually know how to use that thing," the Officer snapped, giving Mario a shove in the direction of the front entrance. "Now hurry up! Get in there and do your duty!"

"Will do," Mario muttered as he took off, his partners following him.

Unfortunately, they arrived at a problem before they even got inside. As they arrived at the front entrance, they realized that the fortress itself was perched on top of a rocky ledge that was several feet high. The actual front doors were well above their heads, and they found themselves staring up, wondering what they were supposed to do.

"He could've mentioned this before," Hanner said irritably as she looked up. "Now how are we getting in?"

"Hmm…" Mario looked around thoughtfully, then turned around and suddenly noticed something he'd missed. Directly behind them was a big metal block, colored red with golden edges.

"I've got a pretty good idea," he said. His partners watched as he walked up to the metal block, then wound up his brand new Ultra Hammer as tightly as he could… and swung it directly at the block, smashing it to pieces.

"Wooooah," Stubba said in admiration.

"I never get tired of doing that," Mario said with a sheepish grin.

Sure enough, as soon as the block was destroyed, a green Warp Pipe suddenly popped out of the ground in its place. Exchanging glances and deciding there was nothing else they could do, the group finally shrugged amongst each other and jumped into the pipe.

When they reemerged, they came jumping out of another pipe that had just risen up several feet above where they had been standing, directly in front of the main entrance to the fortress.

"Well… here we are," Mario sighed as they all stared up at the double doors. "We made it. One last Sun Soul… and it's in there somewhere."

He swallowed hard, feeling reluctant to move. He was afraid of going in there and finding out what King Shroude had lying in wait for them. He had a feeling it was worse than anything they'd faced so far.

"Don't worry, Mario," Dulia said encouragingly. "I mean… you got us all this far, right? I know you'll get us through this too."

"Yeah! _I'm _not scared, Mario," Stubba said loyally.

Mario smiled weakly at them. "All right… well, I hope you guys are right. Here goes nothing…" he said, turning to look back up at the doors.

_Don't worry, Peach. We're finding that Sun Soul… and then we're coming for you._

Taking a deep breath and steeling himself, Mario reached out and pushed open the large wooden door, which responded with a loud creak. Together, he and his partners walked into King Shroude's Fortress…

As he wondered how, or _if_, they were ever getting back out.

––––

**A/N: **I'm thinking Chapter 7 will be only four parts. Compared to previous chapters this is a very straightforward dungeon… and this chapter is driven mostly by dialogue.


	46. Chapter 7, Part II

**A/N: **This would've been up sooner but I suck at designing dungeons. I also really hope I did an okay job writing this part… x_x

––––

_**King Shroude's Fortress**_

_**12:00 Midnight**_

It was even scarier inside the fortress than out.

That was what Mario and the others decided the moment they were in. They jumped as the huge wooden door slammed shut behind them and the loud noise echoed through the halls, though not before it let in a cold draft of air that made the entire group shiver.

Finally, they reluctantly looked around at where they were.

First of all, it was dark, though that was hardly a surprise. Not only that, for a stronghold that was supposed to be so important, the place had a decrepit and abandoned look to it, as though it were falling apart from the inside. The floor was made of cold hard stone, as were the walls, though they were currently standing on a tattered and worn red carpet that seemed to try to signify that this was a house of royalty. There were chains hanging from the ceiling, and the only windows back into the outside world were high up on the walls and seemed to only let in more darkness.

If it weren't for the overwhelming feeling of hostility in the air, Mario would have been reminded of the Koopa Bros.' Fortress… how long ago that seemed now.

As he and his partners looked around nervously, Dulia suddenly let out a shudder. "It's… really cold in here."

"This place looks totally trashed, man," said Ferdinand, looking confused. "What's up with that?"

"If I had to guess? King Shroude probably thinks he doesn't need this place anymore," Mario muttered. "He's been wanting to get out of here forever. Once he's gotten rid of Peach, he'll never need to come back here again… anyway, the sooner we get out of here, the better."

They had nowhere to go but forward, so they walked through the entryway and over to the wooden double doors on the far end. As soon as they'd entered the next room, Mario's breath caught in his throat.

This was likely the largest, most important room in the fortress, though it was currently empty. It seemed to be a meeting hall, as it was mostly taken up by rows of long tables, and there was a huge, ornate chandelier suspended from the ceiling, though it was largely broken and none of the candles were lit.

But the one thing that grabbed everyone's attention was the huge set of doors on the other end of the room… or rather, what was behind them.

"Mario…" Stubba whispered, suddenly growing tense and gripping his club nervously. "I… there's something over there…"

"It's the Sun Soul… it's right behind those doors!" Hanner realized, and Mario knew she was right. Even from this distance they could feel its energy emanating, and they almost balked at its power. It was stronger than any of the other Sun Souls… surely only the Master of Day could wield something like that.

They quickly hurried across the room, down the rows of tables, over to the door, but slowed to a stop when they realized that they weren't getting through that easily. There was an ancient, rusty padlock over the door, bolting it shut.

"No," Mario groaned, tugging at the padlock to no avail. "Come on, come _on_… it's right through here… we don't have time for this…"

"Forget it, Mario… looks like we're gonna need a key," Snatchel sighed.

Mario drew back in annoyance. "A key that could be anywhere in this fortress," he muttered. "We've got no idea where to look for it."

"Uh, I wouldn't say that, dude," came Ferdinand's voice, and the group turned and saw he was studying a torn, yellowing piece of parchment on the wall. "Check this out. It's like, a map or something! Pretty nifty."

"Really?" Mario walked over to get a look, and sure enough, on the parchment was something that definitely looked like a map of the fortress. From the looks of it they were still near the very front, and behind the locked door was a very large room… but Mario was more concerned by the drawing of a large, ornate key that was placed in a room near the very back.

"All right, well, this is a start at least," he decided, drawing back from it. "Looks like the key we're looking for is at the other end of this place." His eyes were slowly drawn over to the door. "Well, I hate to leave the Sun Soul behind, but it looks like we don't have a choice. So let's hurry before it's too late."

He set off over to the back of the room, and his partners followed after him, although for some reason Goomblaine instead decided to stay where he was and scowl to himself.

Mario turned back around and frowned at him. "Goomblaine, are you coming or aren't you?"

The Goomba just rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he muttered noncommittally, though he made it a point to shove Ferdinand out of the way as he stomped off after the others. The Bumpty looked surprised, but not annoyed… which was more than Mario could say. What exactly was it going to take to make Goomblaine stop being a jerk to everyone?

There were two staircases on either side of the door, so they took the left one and went up to the next floor. They plowed through the fortress as best they could after that, but unfortunately, it didn't feel like they were getting any closer to their destination. The hallways were all dark, imposing, and all too easy to get lost in.

The walls were lined with rows of lethal-looking weapons, clubs and flails and swords and knives. There were tapestries hanging from the walls as well, and though they were all filthy and torn it was still possible to see that they depicted battle scenes, monsters out of nightmares, or else the simple image of a moon blotting out a sun.

It was obvious by now what kind of place this was; it was meant for raising an army that could take over the rest of the world. And obviously, such a place wouldn't go unguarded.

"Ugh, we should be getting somewhere by now," Mario griped as he pushed open another wooden door into a hallway with very large windows lining the walls, through which the alien stars could be seen. "At this rate we'll have to turn around and go back outside so we can – AAAHHHH!"

He shrieked and jumped backwards, and so found himself mere inches away from the face of an angry Chain Chomp, snapping furiously as it lunged at him from where it was staked into the floor.

"Oh no… now what?" he groaned as he saw there were three of them, slavering crazily as they bounced around and blocked off the group's path. "We can't fight these things like this! Their defense is through the roof."

Dulia suddenly grew an uncharacteristically firm look. "You guys had better plug your ears," she said, and suddenly a ghostly wind whipped up around her as she floated into the air and unleashed a deafening Howl on their enemies. Mario gasped as his hands flew to his ears, and the Chain Chomps all whimpered in pain at the noise as their defense visibly dropped.

"You sure are tougher than you look, Dulia," Mario observed as she landed back on the ground and his other partners raced forward to finish off the weakened Chomps.

The rest of the hallway was just guarded by more Chomps, but when Dulia wasn't weakening them right off the bat, Ferdinand was just gleefully Beak Jabbing them away. As the very last one of them fell in defeat, though, it left an item behind.

"Hey look, Mario! It's a key!" gasped Stubba, hurrying over and grabbing it up. "You think this is the one that'll open the door?"

Mario looked at it and shook his head. "Nope, that's definitely not big enough. But on the other hand, it must be a key to something else important."

It wasn't long before they found what it was for. They reached the far end of the hallway and arrived at a narrow wooden door on the side wall, covered by a small silver padlock. Mario quickly unlocked it and the group ascended a flight of steep flight of spiral steps. When they reached the top…

"Woah… look where we are!" said Mario as they all crowded together and looked around. They found themselves standing in one of the watchtowers lining the battlements of the fortress. From here they had a bird's-eye view of the entire structure.

"Well, this is lucky. Now we can see exactly where we need to go! And I bet with this key we can get up here whenever we want."

"Yeah… unfortunately, it looks like where we _wanna _be is clear on the other end of the fortress," said Hanner, pointing off in the distance. Sure enough, for all their wanderings they were still near the front, and there were numerous patrols between them and the door where they needed to go.

"Well, at least we've finally got our bearings. Let's hurry over there," said Mario, stepping out of the watchtower as the others followed him. "And remember to act casual… but… not too casual."

––

_**Dark Dimension**_

_**12:00 Midnight**_

The Officer was pacing impatiently around the entrance to the fortress, muttering something under his breath. He was not in the best of moods at the moment… but then, he rarely was.

"Sir! Sir!" came a gasp, and he turned to see another one of the black Wiggler-like creatures come scurrying up to him, looking panicked.

"Contain yourself, soldier. What's the problem?"

"Well, sir, I just received an urgent message," the Wiggler panted, giving a weary salute. "It sounds like _Mario _will be arriving here at any moment to infiltrate the fortress!"

"Mario? Oh, yes, the one our lord kept going on about," said the Officer, frowning at this development. "This is bad news… all right then, remind me again, what does he look like?"

"Uh, well… he's supposed to be a portly fellow. He's got a red hat and blue overalls, he carries a hammer with him, and he's got a… strange group of friends with him."

"Oh, well that's…"

In a bit of a delayed reaction, the Officer suddenly fell silent as he seemed to be remembering something… and then the realization hit him and his eyes bulged in horror.

"GUARDS! GUARDS!" he roared, spinning around and racing toward the entrance. "WE HAVE AN EMERGENCY! MARIO IS INSIDE THE FORTRESS! I REPEAT, MARIO IS INSIDE THE FORTRESS! APPREHEND HIM _NOW!_"

––

_**King Shroude's Fortress**_

_**12:00 Midnight**_

Naturally, his cry was heard by every single patrol lining the battlements… as well as Mario and the others. They hadn't taken more than a few steps out of the watchtower when they all froze in their tracks.

"…Uh oh," said Mario as they suddenly found every single patrol staring at them.

"IT'S MARIO! GET HIM!" shouted one patrol, and the next thing Mario knew every guard on the battlements was charging toward them, shouting at the top of their lungs as they bore down on the hapless heroes.

"RUN FOR IT!" the plumber screamed, and he and his partners tore off across the battlement as fast as they could, desperate to outrun their pursuers and make it over to the back end of the fortress before it was too late. His partners tried desperately to fend off the guards even as they ran for their lives, whether it was by throwing hammers, Lassoing them out of the way or keeping them at bay with a Lullaby, though Goomblaine seemed less concerned with doing that and more concerned with saving his own skin.

"Not so fast!" came an angry hiss, and Mario jolted to a stop as the black Wiggler-thing suddenly came slithering onto the battlement right in front of him – the plumber vaguely realized he must have climbed all the way up the wall of the fortress. His partners all gasped and jerked to a stop as well, which just gave the guards who were chasing them enough time to pull up right behind them.

They were surrounded.

Mario glanced fearfully back and forth at their captors. "Uh… actually, I'm his brother Luigi?" he said with a nervous grin.

That was the last thing he remembered before a fist came down over his head.

––

The next thing he was aware of was the fact that he was lying on the cold, stone ground, and how thick and rank the air suddenly seemed. He groaned in pain, reaching up and rubbing his throbbing head, and forced his eyes open.

Maizee was the first to notice him. "Oh, Mario, you're awake! Thank goodness," she gasped as she turned and hurried over to him. The others quickly followed her.

"Don't do that again, partner. You had us all worried," said Snatchel, shaking his head and looking a little amused.

"Ow…" Mario groaned, sitting up and still rubbing his head. He looked around at where they were, and his blood ran cold as he realized they were behind a set of iron bars.

"Oh no…" He ran up and looked through the bars. He didn't recognize the room they were in at all; it was even darker and more filthy than the rest of the fortress, and the only light seemed to come from torches hanging from braziers on the walls.

"Where… where are we? Where are they holding us?"

"We don't know, dude," Ferdinand sighed. "We're like, underground or something. In the cellar, I guess."

Mario covered his face in his hands. "No, no, no," he moaned hopelessly. "This can't be happening. We have to get out of here… Peach is running out of time!"

He didn't get to say another thing before there suddenly came a hearty laugh from the other side of the room.

Mario immediately spun around at the noise. "Oh, great," he muttered as he realized the laugh belonged to the Officer, who had just come walking through a large door on the other side of the cell. He strode up to the bars of the cell with a wicked smile on his face, ignoring the hostile glares he was getting from everyone inside.

"So here you are! All together, ripe for the picking! The infamous Mario _and _the six Guardians of Day…" His gaze fell listlessly on Goomblaine. "…and an _extra_, it would seem."

Goomblaine glared up at him with a look that suggested he would have tried to tear his throat out if he were able. How dare they think he was worth less than the others, even if… _especially _if they were Guardians!

"You have a lot more cheek than I thought, Mario, trying to pull a fast one on me like that."

"Well, it _worked_," Mario pointed out.

The Officer blinked once before scowling. "Yes, well… we'll see just how much cheek you have after we let King Shroude know who's decided to pay us a visit. I'm sure he'll be _quite _eager to give you all what you deserve." He started to turn away, giving them a nasty grin. "Until then… sit tight."

"Oh yeah? Why don't'cha let us outta here and _then _we'll see who's the cheeky one, partner!" Snatchel shouted after him, running up and grabbing the bars, but the Officer just waved him off and vanished out the door.

One he was gone, the sheriff let out a defeated sigh and sank to the ground. "Shoot… this just ain't our day, is it?"

"Mario, did you hear what he said? If we don't get out of here _fast_, they're going to bring King Shroude over here!" Dulia cried. "We can't fight him like this, not without Princess Peach!"

"I know, I know," Mario groaned, trying to remain calm. He was far less worried about himself here than his partners; they were the ones Shroude really needed out of the way, and what was he going to do when he got his hands on them…?

"Okay, Stubba… let's look for a crack in the wall again, okay? I'm sure we can break out of here. But we have to _hurry._"

Stubba immediately obeyed, running up and down the walls with a nervous look on his face as he looked for somewhere he could break open. He was quickly joined by Mario, while the other partners just stood there fearfully and wondered what they should do.

"Oh…! I found something, Mario!" Stubba finally piped up, pointing at a small crack in the wall. Mario and the others quickly raced over to him as he gripped his club and smashed it into the wall as hard as he could…

But as the stone crumbled away, Mario's heart quickly sank. The resulting hole was tiny… there was no way they could all get through that. This was no use at all. It was only big enough that his two shortest partners, Stubba and Goomblaine, could fit through it.

"…Is that all?" said Snatchel, looking disappointed.

"Isn't there some way you could make that bigger?" Hanner asked, sounding pretty hopeless.

"I'm _trying,_" said Stubba as he continued repeatedly whacking the wall, but no matter what he did nothing else would give way.

Finally he lowered his club in exhaustion, giving Mario a despairing look. "I'm sorry, Mario… maybe, maybe I could go out there and look for something to help everybody?"

"No, Stubba, it's too dangerous out there for you all by yourself," Mario said, and then sighed. This went completely against his judgment, but… "Goomblaine, you're going to have to go out there and scout. And come back the minute you find a way to get us out of here."

Goomblaine just snorted, not moving an inch. "Oh, right. You're sendin' me out because I'm _expendable_, right?"

"I'm sending you out because you're _older_. Now please just knock it off and go, all right?"

But the Goomba did nothing but give him a loathing sneer, turning away defiantly. "Forget it. I'm through with you bossin' me around like some lackey. I'm not goin'."

Mario felt a very familiar twinge of annoyance. "Goomblaine, we don't have time for this! Whatever problem you've got, deal with it _later! _Unless you want the Guardians to all be wiped out _again_, after everything we've done – "

"Forget it!" Goomblaine spun back around and spat at him, causing the other partners to draw back in shock. "I'm sick and tired of you, and I'm sick and tired of how you're always goin' on and on about those _Guardians _like some kinda dumb fool idiot! If you're so worried about 'em, do it yourself! I'm not doin' it!"

Mario stared at him for a long moment before he found his voice.

"That's it. That's _it._" He got up and stormed over to the Goomba."Goomblaine, enough is _enough!_"

"Mario, I don't think this is the time _or _the place for this – " Maizee began, but for once, Mario ignored her. This confrontation was weeks in the making. All of his dormant frustration at Goomblaine had finally come to the surface. This was the last straw.

"I've had it with you! You have the _worst _attitude I've ever seen, and I've given you plenty of chances to change your tune, but you just haven't gotten in through your head! From the very start you've done nothing but be deliberately cruel and unhelpful whenever you got the chance! It's fine to be angry at me, but do you really have to drag _them _into it?" He angrily gestured at his other partners, who were all watching this with wide eyes, too stunned to say anything.

"You treat everybody on this team like dirt. Like you're _better _than the rest of us. And you don't even seem to care whether the Guardians come back or not!"

Goomblaine gave him a glare that was like ice. "You're right," he said steadily. "I don't."

Everyone stared at him.

"But – but how could you _say _that?" Stubba cried.

"After all this time, you don't – you don't even – " Hanner sputtered, not even knowing how to finish.

Mario was actually growing afraid. He felt like he didn't even know his first partner anymore. "What is the _matter _with you?"

"The matter with _me?_" Goomblaine spat at him, growing visibly angrier by the second. "There's nothin' the matter with me! Why the _heck _would I care what happens to those Guardians, after what they did to _me?_"

Mario blinked. "What…? What are you talking about?"

"Y'know, I _used _to be like you," Goomblaine said in a condescending, accusing voice. "I used to think the Guardians would take care of everything. Heck, I thought they were _great_." He scowled at some memory. "But my parents sure didn't."

Mario and the others stared at him. He'd never mentioned this before…

"Your… parents…?"

"Yeah, you never wondered why I never brought them up, did you? Of course you didn't," Goomblaine sneered at him. "Y'know what they said? They said if the Guardians really were real, then our lives would be a whole lot better. We wouldn't be poor, we wouldn't be livin' in a bad neighborhood… but I just kept on hopin' and believin' in them, 'cause I was just that _stupid_."

He turned away with a bitter look on his face. "Yeah, and they didn't like that at all. My mom especially. She said I was no kid of hers if I went around believin' in some dumb fool superstition like that… so I got mad, and I ran away."

The silence and the tension in the cell were unbelievable. Goomblaine shot the others a glare, certain he had their complete attention, before he went on.

"Well that lasted a few days… I was just wanderin' around the streets with nowhere to go. But then I started thinkin'… weren't the Guardians supposed to represent, like, everything _good _in the world? Peace and balance and dumb stuff like that? And if I was just bein' stubborn and runnin' away like that, bein' mad at my parents for no reason… wasn't that goin' against everything the Guardians wanted? Wouldn't they be happier if I went back and dealt with my own problems?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that sounded good to me. So I went back home, but…"

He suddenly looked pained to go on. "Y'know, not everybody who believes in the Guardians is a flippin' _saint_," he said scornfully. "There's some guys out there who think that's something you _have _to do. Like that's the only way to be. And if you don't believe what they believe, like my parents… they try and force it on you. They get… _violent_."

For the first time, somebody else spoke up. "You mean like… like _crusaders?_" Hanner asked in a very small, timid voice. "I… Rodolfo never mentioned anything like that…"

"Well yeah, he _wouldn't_, would he?" Goomblaine shouted at her. "He couldn't stand the thought that those Guardians of his were less than perfect!" He shook his head. "That dumb freak, he doesn't know a thing…"

He turned away from the others again, glaring at the floor. "But I didn't know that back then. I didn't know about any of that stuff. But by the time I got home that one night, expecting like I'd see my parents again, I… I saw…"

His face screwed up in pain. He didn't finish.

"Goomblaine…" Mario said after a moment, ever so cautiously. "What… what did you see…?"

"My house was burned down," Goomblaine said shortly. "They didn't get out in time."

There was the most ringing, hostile silence Mario had ever experienced.

"Woah… dude…" Ferdinand said softly.

"Oh, my _goodness_…" Maizee whispered, covering her mouth with her hand.

Stubba looked completely terrified, gripping onto Hanner's hand with both of his own.

"And that was when I stopped believing in the Guardians," Goomblaine said in a very low, very shaky voice. "I was wrong the whole time. If they really did exist, they'd never let something like this happen. _Never_."

Mario's chest was tight and his expression was horrified. "Goomblaine, I… I…" he began, but he had absolutely no idea where to go from there. He felt like he'd had the wind knocked out of him, like he could barely stand on his feet anymore. All of a sudden, all those past weeks of anger and arguments, of hostility and isolation, of hurting the others as much as he could and refusing to help anyone unless he was forced… all of a sudden, everything made sense. Everything was horribly, painfully clear.

Everything that had happened to Goomblaine, he blamed on the Guardians… and all this time, Mario had been forcing him to help bring those very same Guardians back…

"But… but why didn't you… you never said anything! Goomblaine, why didn't you _say _something?"

Goomblaine had been looking weary and defeated, but suddenly all the hate and venom came rushing back.

"Well you never gave me the _chance, _did you? Naw, you just shoved me to the back of the line the first chance you got so those other freaks in this group could come and fawn over you!" He let out a laugh, scathing and bitter and furious. "Geez, Fat Man, you think there's somethin' wrong with _me? _You were the one who saw how messed up I was and never once even thought of just _askin' _what was wrong! You were too busy feelin' sorry for _yourself _because oh no! One of your partners isn't completely in love with you!"

Mario was shocked into silence. That accusation hit him hard. He had no idea what to say in reply, but… it wasn't _true_, was it? None of it was! It couldn't be…

"Well I got news for you, Fat Man. I'm the only one in this room who sees you for what you really are. You're some spoiled rotten glory hog who expects everybody to go around _worshipping _you, like… like a _Guardian!_" He spat the last word out like he couldn't even stand the taste of it. "Well I ain't doin' it. You haven't done a thing for me. And I've _had _it."

And without another word, he spun on his heel and began marching off toward the hole in the wall. The other partners could only stare after him in silence. They were too shocked to do a thing.

For a moment, so was Mario, but his shock was quickly replaced by anger.

"Goomblaine, where do you think you're going?" he demanded, taking off after the Goomba. "You get back here – "

Goomblaine whirled around and violently shoved Mario in the stomach, sending him staggering backwards and collapsing to the ground. He winced as his head struck hard stone.

"Get away from me! And don't ever let me see you again! I'm _outta _here!" the Goomba shouted at him. "Admit it, that's what you wanted this whole time, ain't it?"

"Goomblaine – " Hanner called out futilely, but he paid her no heed. Leaving Mario staring up at him with a hurt and confused look, he turned back around and stormed off, doing what he should have done weeks ago and leaving Mario and the others behind. For good.

He left the cell and marched across the room, then yanked the wooden door open and marched through it. It slammed shut behind him with a loud, echoing clang.

Everything was silent. Mario was still sitting on the ground, as still as a statue, unable to process what had just happened. Hanner and Stubba ran up to him, but he didn't even notice. He just kept staring at the doorway where Goomblaine had vanished.

"He's… gone," he said quietly. "He's gone."


	47. Chapter 7, Part III

**A/N: **In case anyone was concerned about this, none of the opinions expressed by Goomblaine or the other characters are necessarily my own.

––––

_**King Shroude's Fortress**_

_**12:00 Midnight**_

Deep underground, in the cellar of the fortress, seven heroes were slumped inside a cell, their heads hanging in defeat, not a word spoken among them. They knew they should be looking for a way to escape, but after what had happened a few minutes ago, none of them had the heart to try anymore. It seemed as though there was a gray cloud hanging over their heads.

And to be honest, they were all still dealing with the shock. They were almost too afraid to even open their mouths. For the longest time, the only sound in the room came from an echoing dripping noise coming from somewhere above their heads.

"Poor… poor Goomblaine," Stubba finally spoke up. "I feel so bad for him."

"Me too," Hanner sighed. "I mean, he was a jerk, but… he kind of had a good reason, huh?"

"If only he'd said something to us," said Maizee, gazing through the bars and looking guilty about something. "We could have done something for him. I never once imagined… that he blamed us personally for everything that's happened to him…"

Ferdinand lifted his head up. "But, uh… _we _weren't Guardians when all that stuff went down, were we?"

"I don't reckon he really cares about that," Snatchel muttered.

Of course, nobody was more miserable at that moment than Mario. He was hardly even listening to his partners talking. Goomblaine's last words to him were still ringing in his ears, drowning out everything else as he sat gazing into his lap.

The worst part was, Mario knew all of it was true. He couldn't deny it after having it thrust in his face like that. Goomblaine had been something completely foreign to him: a partner who wouldn't open up to him, a partner who refused to get along with him. He'd had no idea how to deal with something like that… so he hadn't. He'd just pushed it to the back of his mind the moment Hanner joined the group.

The truth was… maybe he _was _a little spoiled. He was just so used to being a hero, so used to being adored by everyone, that having just one person who reviled him so openly was more than he could handle… and he'd been so busy worrying about that, he hadn't stopped to think that maybe Goomblaine was having bigger problems…

"Y'know, my little bro once went on an adventure, and he had _three _partners who didn't like him," he finally said, giving a sad ironic smile. "I never really gave it any thought, but looking back… I have no idea how he did it." He sighed, gazing at the floor. "He handled it better than I have been, that's for sure."

His partners had all turned to look at him when he started talking. "Mario, please…" said Maizee, looking concerned at his state. "I know Goomblaine said some hurtful things, but you can't let it get to you like this."

"But he was _right. _He was. About everything." He ran his hand over his face. "I neglected him. He needed me, and I just threw him to the side. I can't believe I've been so selfish…"

"Mario, come on. This isn't all your fault and you know it," Hanner said firmly, putting her hands on her hips and looking him square in the eye. "Even if Goomblaine was right… and I'm not saying he was… he was _wrong _to just leave us like this."

"Where… where is he even going to go?" asked Dulia, looking concerned for him. "He can't get back to Soluna Town… he probably can't even get out of the fortress without someone finding him…"

"We're gonna go look for him, aren't we Mario?" asked Stubba, gazing up at the plumber with worry in his eyes. "We're not gonna leave him here, are we?"

It almost broke Mario's heart to see the look on Stubba's face. Even after all this, he was still so innocent… and yet Mario couldn't forget that he still had two parents waiting back at home for him…

"Stubba… right now, Goomblaine doesn't really want to be found," he tried to explain. "If he wants to come back, he knows where to find us. But until then… I think trying to look for him is just going to be a waste of time."

"And we don't got a lotta that, do we?" Snatchel sighed, leaning against the bars and gazing out wistfully. "That feller's gonna let his boss know where we are any minute now…"

Suddenly he straightened up, looking at something outside the cell with interest. "Uh, Mario? You might wanna have a look at this…"

Mario immediately turned and looked. At first he didn't even know what he was looking at, but then he realized Snatchel was staring at the torch hanging from the brazier closest to their cell. There was something strange-looking about it, and Mario realized the bricks surrounding it were suspiciously off color…

"It's a switch!" he exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "The torch is some kind of secret switch! I'll bet you anything that's our ticket out of here!"

He dashed over to the bars and peered through them, becoming more and more sure as he looked that he was right. His partners all looked curiously at the torch as well, though they didn't look as enthusiastic about it.

"Well, that's great Mario, but we'd have to _pull _that switch to activate it," Hanner reminded him. "We're not exactly in a position to do that right now."

"Well, we'll see about that!" Snatchel said with a cheeky grin, immediately grabbing his lariat. He concentrated hard and twirled his lasso for a moment before throwing it directly through the bars of their cell, tightening it around the switch and giving it a yank.

There was a loud, creaky groan, and the bars of the cell swung wide open.

"All right! We did it!" Mario laughed, racing out of the cell along with his partners and feeling a huge surge of relief. Maybe they still weren't too late…

"Ha ha! I knew it! No prison can hold the incomparable Team Mario!" Hanner laughed with her signature hammer twirl.

"Wicked. The Bumpty Boarders were _not _meant to be contained, man," Ferdinand chuckled, looking very happy to be free.

Mario quickly caught himself and turned to face his partners. "All right everyone, first things first. Let's make sure King Shroude _doesn't _find out we're here. You all know what that means, right?"

His partners all struck mischievous grins, and he nodded. "I thought so. Let's go!"

And so they raced out of the dank cellar and up to the main floor of the fortress, but not before Mario skidded to a stop at the sight of a group of sparkles hiding behind a barrel and hastily grabbed the Luma on his way out.

––

"King Shroude is _not_ going to be happy about this," the Officer mumbled as he walked into a small, deserted room in the fortress and prepared to teleport away. "As if anything else could go wrong tonight… I've got to let him know about Mario before it's too late."

"Oooh… yeah, sorry about that," came a rather smug-sounding voice. The Officer gasped and spun around to see that Mario's team had filed into the room behind him, striking battle stances and grinning in anticipation of revenge.

"_You! _But – how did you – "

"Don't worry, we'll tell him you tried your hardest," said Mario. The ensuing battle was over in record time.

After that, Mario wasted no time using the key they'd found to unlock the nearest door leading back up to the battlements. As they ascended up into the watchtower, though, they weren't happy with what they saw.

"Oh no…" Mario groaned. Marching around the battlements were at least double the amount of patrols there had been before… and no doubt they were all on the lookout for Mario's group. There was no way they could safely make their way across.

"Shoot… come on guys, we can't stay up here," he muttered, hastily ushering his partners back downstairs before they were caught. He was sure he saw several of the guards turning their heads in his direction, but luckily the group made it down just in time.

"That was close," Dulia whimpered as Mario slammed the door behind them. "Now what do we do, Mario? I thought going up there was the only way we could see the whole fortress."

"It _was _the only way," Mario groaned, leaning against a wall. "But if they catch us again, they'll probably do a lot worse than lock us up… ugh, this is no good. We have to get to the back _now. _We're almost out of time…"

"Hey, don't sweat it, Mario-dude," Ferdinand said reassuringly, not looking nearly as worried as he probably should have been. "There's gotta be some other way through this joint!"

Snatchel gave him an exasperated glare. "Oh really? What do _you _reckon we oughta do?"

Ferdinand shrugged. "Just go with the flow, man! That's what I always do!"

Snatchel's eye started twitching. "THIS IS NO TIME TO BE GOIN' WITH THE FLOW!" he shouted, grabbing Ferdinand and shaking him.

"Now, sweetheart, be nice," said Maizee, patting the irate cowboy on the back.

Mario tried to tune them out as he wracked his brain for an idea. "All right, guys… I think we've only got one choice. We're going to have to go through half down here and half on top. If we can find an opening on the battlements where the guards can't see us, then we'll go through there. Otherwise, we'll just have to tough it out on this floor."

His partners didn't look pleased about that, but reluctantly decided he was probably right. This was the only safe way.

So they quickly set off through the lower level of the fortress, passing through the darkened hallways with the frayed and tattered carpets and tapestries, looking for a place they could safely ascend to the battlements. Surprisingly, there weren't a lot of Darkstriders down here… though Mario wasn't exactly complaining about that, seeing how they'd just cleared out a whole hotel full of them. There were plenty of even scarier monsters lurking around, though, including the black Wigglers and gargoyle-like creatures they had seen outside. There was no short supply of Chain Chomps either, adding to the feel of how thoroughly barricaded this place was.

"HEY! Where do you think you're going?" came a hissing voice. The group spun around to see that a black Wiggler had just dropped down from the ceiling behind them and was now rising up on his hind legs, baring a set of very sharp fangs.

"Ugh, these things are gross," Hanner groaned as they all stepped backwards. "What are they even _called_, anyway?"

"I have no idea," said Mario. "Goomblaine, can you – "

He froze.

His partners turned to look at him. "Mario?" said Hanner, but he was still unable to move as he realized what he'd just said. And as he was unable to give any directions, there was nothing stopping the black Wiggler from lunging directly at the group.

"EEEEEK!" Stubba and Dulia screamed as he wrapped himself around them in the blink of an eye and tried to squeeze the life out of them. His other partners cried out and tried to come to their rescue, but with the lightning-fast whip of his lower body the Wiggler sent them all flying backwards and crashing into the wall.

"_No!_" Mario gasped, quickly snapping out of his funk. "No, no, no… oh no, what do I do…"

"Woah, Mario-dude!" Ferdinand cried, staggering backwards to join him. "I think we could use a do-over here…"

Mario grimaced. "I think you're right…"

Without hesitating, they both grabbed hands and shouted "Square One!"

The Wiggler stopped in confusion as a square-shaped frame of the battle scene suddenly cut itself out from their surroundings and started spinning around on its top, looking almost like the pages of a flipbook. Mario and Ferdinand gasped and steadied themselves, and realized to their shock that the Wiggler had suddenly started moving backwards. As his partners got up from the wall, the creature dropped Stubba and Dulia and scurried away from them, like a tape being played in reverse.

Finally the scene returned to normal, and Mario realized that the last round of the fight had just been undone.

"Woah… trippy, man," was all Ferdinand could say.

"Trippy, but useful," Mario decided. Now that he was paying attention, he and the group were able to make very fast work of the Wiggler.

"Okay… I have _no _idea what just happened. Somebody wanna explain?" asked Hanner, though she quickly fell silent as she and the others turned and saw Mario. He still had a pale, slightly distant look on his face, remembering what had happened to distract him in the first place.

"Are you okay, Mario?" Stubba asked worriedly.

Mario sighed and looked down at him. "I'm fine, Stubba," he said, not really sounding very fine. "I'm sorry about that, everybody…"

His partners looked sympathetic. "We're all worried about him too, Mario," Dulia assured him.

_But he wasn't your responsibility,_ Mario thought. "I know, Dulia… I'm just worried that we haven't seen him at all. I'm afraid he got captured, or worse…"

"I'm sure he's avoiding us, Mario," Maizee sighed. "Anyway, until he decides to come back, I'm sure he'll be fine… he knows all about fending for himself, doesn't he?"

Mario managed the faintest of smiles. "Yeah, I suppose he does…"

They set off again after a moment, but Mario couldn't get Goomblaine out of his head. He desperately wanted to see his first partner again, and not just to know he was all right… he wanted to fix things. Now that he was so aware of all the mistakes he'd made, he just wanted the chance to make everything right with Goomblaine. He wanted to believe that it still wasn't too late.

––

Mario's plan ending up working better than he'd thought. The group traveled through both levels of the fortress, though they spent most of their time walking through the lower level. Every time they had the chance, they'd climb up to one of the watchtowers and see if there was a place they could sneak past the guards on the battlements, and if there was, they'd race through as fast as they possibly could.

Most of the enemies inside the fortress attacked in groups, but luckily, it was nothing Mario's team couldn't handle. Hanner was eager to take them out all at once with her electrifying Volt Hammer, and Snatchel often joined in with his new Double Dash skill, charging through the enemies and sending them flying like bowling pins.

It wasn't any easier up on the battlements. Not only did they have the patrols to constantly worried about, they found themselves frequently having to content with the Bullet Bill Blasters lining the walls of the fortress. Taking them out, as well as the rounds of Bullet Bills they fired out, was a very time-consuming task.

At the very least, one of the watchtowers they were hiding out in turned out to have a Luma inside of it… and Mario vaguely realized as he collected it that this must have been the very last one. He'd rescued enough of them now to upgrade all of his partners two times.

_It's really almost over… _he thought, and the thought was a strange one.

At one point, the group had to walk across a bridge taking them directly above the inner courtyard of the fortress. Mario had to will himself not to look down, for directly below them were rows upon rows of monstrous creatures marching in formation, chanting out discordant war cries. The plumber let out a shudder, growing more determined than ever to find that Sun Soul before King Shroude had the chance to unleash them on the rest of the world…

"All those guys down there… and the one guarding the Sun Soul is stronger than all of them," Dulia whispered. "Who on earth could be powerful enough for that?"

"I don't even want to think about that," Mario grumbled.

Finally, after what felt like forever, the group had safely navigated all the way to the back end of the fortress. They were lucky enough to find a sleeping Darkstrider slumped against the brick wall, and so Dulia quickly disguised them all and enabled them to walk right past the rest of the patrols and through the large wooden doors.

"…Well, I think we know where the key is," Mario said once they were inside the room. There was a huge wooden treasure chest on the far end, but between it and them were several stone walls rising out of the ground at various angles, forming a sort of maze. Not only that, but lining the various pathways was a series spinning fire traps that Mario was _very_ well-versed with at this point in his life.

"King Shroude _really_ doesn't trust his minions, does he?" Hanner remarked. "Oh hey, Mario! Check this out!"

Mario saw she was pointing at three big blue "!" switches to their side. Two of them were on the ground, but one was elevated high up on a stone platform and would probably require Hanner's Hammer Throw to reach.

"Hmm… I wonder what these are for," said Mario, experimentally jumping on one. As soon as he did, the entire room began to shake, causing his partners to gasp and flail around. Mario turned and saw that hitting the switch had caused some of the stone walls to lower into the ground… but had also caused some other ones to rise up.

"Oh, great…" he groaned. "I bet we have to hit these switches in the right order so we open up the right path to the key, don't we?"

"Ooh! That sounds like a fun challenge!" Hanner said cheerfully, then noticed the weird looks she was getting from everyone else. "Oh… or not."

After Mario and Hanner solved that truly gripping and exciting puzzle, the group walked down the zigzagging path they had opened up, frantically jumping over the spinning fire traps wherever they were found. Mario had to bust out his Ultra Hammer once to smash a metal block that had been placed in their way for good measure, and finally he raced up a small flight of stairs and had Ferdinand fly him over to the platform where the large chest was waiting.

"Well… here it is," he said quietly, opening it up and pulling out the large, rusty Ancient Key. "This is what we've been looking for…"

He stood there for a minute, holding it in his hands as a strange feeling slowly came over him. He should have been excited or relieved, but somehow, he wasn't. He realized that this was it; the way the final Sun Soul was open, and there was no turning back now. Their last stand against King Shroude's forces was about to begin.

_And then what? _he thought. _Even if we find the Sun Soul, how do we ever get out of this place? How do we find Shroude… and Peach? How will I ever see her again?_

_Peach… what if it's too late? What if I let her down, the way I let down…_

He glanced over at his shoulder at his partners, all too conscious of the one who wasn't there, and realized Peach was no longer the only one he was worried about.

––

Using the same combination of luck and stealth that had gotten them this far, the group made their way back to the very front of the fortress, also finding a P-Up, D-Down Badge with Snatchel's help. Finally they arrived back at the deserted Great Hall, walking across the long rows of tables and over to the tightly locked door.

"It's going to be strange seeing the sun again after all this time. I can't wait to get out of this awful place," said Dulia as they all stood in front of the door. "You ready, Mario?"

Mario nodded slowly, gripping the Ancient Key in his hands. "Ready as I'll ever be. You guys ready?"

"Absolutely," Maizee said confidently. "Whatever's behind this door, I'm certain we can handle it."

"This is it, though… the very last Sun Soul," said Hanner, sounding a little uneasy. "The strongest one of all… there's no way we're getting it back without a hassle."

"Well, it's a good thing hassling is what we're good at," Mario remarked. Giving his partners one last look, seeing that they were all standing loyally behind him, ready for anything, he finally took a deep breath and turned around, slowly placing the key in the lock.

_This is really it…_

He turned the key, and with a loud series of clicks, the padlock suddenly popped open and clattered onto the floor. Without giving himself any time for doubt, Mario immediately pushed the door open and walked on through.

The room that they stepped into was huge. As usual, the only source of light came from the braziers mounted on the walls, but the flames in this room were inexplicably burning black. Even so, the light was enough to illuminate the rows of spikes jutting from the walls, as well as the vast array of weapons lining every corner of the room. There was nothing the center but a wide open space, presumably meant for a battle. It felt suspiciously like they were in an indoor arena.

They were the only ones in the room.

"So… where is it?" asked Hanner as they all warily glanced around. "The Sun Soul, I mean? Shouldn't it be in here somewhere?"

"I'm not sure…" Mario muttered, slowly reaching for his hammer. It was unnervingly quiet and still in the room, and he suspected something was about to happen… surely they were about to find out who it was that was guarding this final Sun Soul…

"Guys, get ready for a fight," he suddenly said, stiffening and grabbing his weapon. "I think we're about to see some action."

Dulia was looking nervous. "But who – "

Before she could even finish, she got her answer. Everyone gasped and drew together as a low, throaty noise suddenly filled the room, surrounding the group. It wasn't overly loud, but it sounded artificially amplified, and its sheer power seemed to send tremors through the room. Mario and the others quickly looked around, but the noise didn't seem to come from anywhere at all.

"What was _that?_" asked Stubba, looking frightened.

"It sounded almost like… someone was _laughing_," said Maizee.

And then Mario felt his resolve suddenly falter. She was right… it _was _somebody laughing. And he realized that he knew that laugh. He'd heard it many, many times… but never like this…

"No… no, it can't be…"

A towering pillar of smoke rose up from the center of the room, spiraling around itself as it reached up to the ceiling and filled the room with a deathly chill. The entire party scrambled backwards in fright, staring at the pillar of smoke, afraid of finding out who or what was about to come stepping out.

Except for Mario. He knew exactly who it was. But even as the smoke cleared away and the huge, lumbering form took a step into the room with enough force to make the floor shake, he didn't want to believe it was true.

"_B-Bowser?_" he cried.

Mario's age-old nemesis was towering over the heads of the group, nearly twice as tall as he should have been, but that was practically the last thing Mario noticed. He was more concerned with the fact that Bowser was somehow the same dark blue hue as King Shroude and the Darkstriders and his shell was jet black. His scales were sharper and more pronounced, his eyes were burning with an unnatural fire, and smoke came billowing out from under his feet every time he took a step. Searing black flames were licking from his mouth as he stomped toward the group, giving them a wicked grin that showed just how deadly serious he was.

"MARIO!" he laughed again, his voice distorted and booming and so inexplicably terrifying that all of Mario's partners (yes, even Snatchel) shrieked and cowered behind him. "There you are, you puny pathetic little plumber! You have _no idea_ how long I've been waiting for this!"

––––

**A/N: **…Would you believe I came up with this independently of Bowser's Inside Story? ;^;


	48. Chapter 7, Part IV

**A/N: **Just FYI, this is probably my favorite part of the entire story.

––––

_**King Shroude's Fortress**_

_**12:00 Midnight**_

Goomblaine sat in a corner somewhere above the Great Hall, obscured among the shadows and scowling to himself. Leaving the group probably hadn't been the safest idea, but there was _no way_ he was going back to them. Mario had carted him along for long enough, and he was through with it.

He couldn't remember the last time he'd been so upset. His face was screwed up in misery as he sat by himself, hardly even caring if he was caught. Confronting Mario like that had opened up all of his old wounds, and he remembered all the more clearly now why he hated the Guardians so much… what they'd done to him, how they were supposed to be protectors but instead they'd taken everything away from him…

And Mario was no better. He was nothing but a pretentious blowhard, flaunting his hero status every chance he got and not caring about anything else. The only time he ever even gave Goomblaine a thought was when he was yelling at him for being a hassle. He was just another thing that made Mario's life oh-so-difficult.

There were no heroes in this world. The ones who were supposed to help you just ended up hurting you. It was always the same.

So he'd just given up. He didn't even care if he never made it out of this fortress. He had nothing to go back to in Chronoside. Nothing and nobody. He never had.

Suddenly a faint noise reached his ears, and he shot up in surprise. Somewhere nearby – behind the locked door? – he heard a group of familiar voices. It was Mario and the others, and they were screaming. They sounded terrified. There was somebody else in the room too, and he was letting out a loud, wicked laugh.

Goomblaine realized they must be fighting for the last Sun Soul… whoever they were facing must be a real monster.

But what did _he _care? So what if they lost? He'd never cared what happened to them, had he?

Mario… should he really just forget about him? Should he just leave him here to get a Game Over, not caring what happened?

_After everything he did to me…_

For a moment he sat there, feeling confused, wondering what he should do… but finally, finally, his doubt left him and his face grew firm. He made his decision.

––

"Bowser…" Mario gasped, holding onto his hammer for dear life as he stared up at the turtley behemoth towering over them. "What _happened _to you?"

"Th-th-_that's _Bowser?" Hanner whimpered, looking terrified along with the others.

"Well, kind of… he doesn't usually look like this…"

"GRAW HAW HAW! You like it, Mario?" Bowser jeered, taking another crashing step toward them. "Yeah, this spiffy little makeover makes me ten times more powerful – more than enough to mop the floor with _you! _I have good old King Shroude to thank for that!"

"King Shroude…" Mario suddenly frowned. "Bowser, _what _are you doing working for him? Don't you know he's holding Peach captive? Do you _know _what he's going to do to her if we don't get to her in time?"

"Oh, that's so typical Mario… trying to lie to me to get me to lower my guard!" Bowser scoffed. "I'm not falling for any of your little tricks! King Shroude already promised me I'll get to have Peach to myself once I'm done pummeling you!"

"Well, there I'm afraid you were misinformed," Maizee said darkly. "We know what he's after, and he has no intention of doing such a thing."

Bowser just gave her an amused look. "And look at that, Mario! You have _another _group of cute little friends following you around! Well, we'll see how much they like you when you're a smear on the wall!"

He suddenly stood back and started flexing his dark blue muscles. "And by the way, it's not Bowser anymore. This awesome bod deserves a new name! You can call me… _Blackout Bowser!_"

Mario glared at him. "You're joking, right?"

"I've never been more serious!" Bowser roared in his face, causing him to wince and cover his ears. "This is it, Mario! Our final confrontation! You've been a thorn in my side for long enough! Your Superstar Saga ends _here!_"

And before Mario could even react, he'd opened his mouth and let loose a torrent of black flames. Mario's whole party screamed and scrambled out of the way, narrowly avoiding being burned alive.

"Come on, Mario! What are you, _chicken?_" Bowser taunted him, unleashing another blast of fire as he stomped after them. "Heh, and I thought you were some kind of hero! Looks like I've been lied to!"

Mario's mind was racing desperately. He was an expert on fighting Bowser, but this was completely different. He somehow had a feeling anything he tried would be completely ineffective… not least of all because he couldn't even get close. Blackout Bowser's shadowy fire was keeping the entire group at bay, frantically running for their lives.

"Mario, what do we do?" Stubba cried as they'd all been backed into a corner. "We can't fight him! He's so strong!"

"You're telling me," Mario groaned, staring up at Bowser's wicked grin as he flexed his claws and advanced on them. Mario couldn't believe they were about to go out like this… they needed a miracle… they needed –

The door slammed open.

Everyone, even Bowser, immediately stopped what they were doing and turned in surprise to face the person who'd just burst into the room.

"Goomblaine?" Mario gasped.

Everyone stared in astonishment, not making a sound as Goomblaine stood where he was, frowning in intent. Mario's heart suddenly started pounding like crazy. Had Goomblaine changed his mind? Had he finally come back to help the group, now when they needed help the most?

For a tension-filled moment, Goomblaine didn't move. Nobody took their eyes off him as his narrowed gaze traveled over every person in the room… and then finally came to rest on Mario.

Mario gazed back at him… and then his eyes bulged and he gasped, but he was too late to save himself as Goomblaine threw himself at him, knocking him to the ground.

"_Goomblaine! What are you doing?_" Hanner cried incredulously. Mario shouted in pain as he struck the hard ground, but Goomblaine wasn't finished. He kicked the plumber in the side, sending him rolling across the floor and frantically grabbing at himself, gasping and weakly trying to get to his feet.

"I'm gonna make you _pay_, Fat Man!" Goomblaine bellowed at him. "For _everything _you put me through! You're gonna find out what it's like!"

"Dude! What is your malfunction? Stop wailing on Mario-dude!" Ferdinand said angrily. He and the other partners tried to grab Goomblaine, but the Goomba just shoved them all off and continued stomping after Mario.

The plumber had finally managed to struggle to his feet, clutching his aching side, but he froze when he saw the look on Goomblaine's face. It was so angry, so full of pent-up hate and rage at him, at the whole world, that Mario was completely terrified of what he saw. Too terrified to get away.

He vaguely realized that Goomblaine was using Intimidate on him.

It was only then that Blackout Bowser suddenly spoke up. "Hey! What the _heck _is going on here?" he demanded, stomping his foot and trying to regain the group's attention. "Some lousy Goomba thinks he can just storm in here and steal my fight? This is between _you _and _me_, Mario!"

But Mario still couldn't tear his gaze away from Goomblaine. "Goomblaine… please…" he said quietly, though he knew it was useless. "Don't do this… you can't do this…"

"Yeah? Try and _stop _me!" Goomblaine snarled, ramming him in the stomach and sending him staggering backwards, the wind knocked out of him.

His other partners were horrified. They looked frantically back and forth between Blackout Bowser and Goomblaine, desperate and confused, unsure of what to do. Thankfully, that decision was made for them once Bowser let out an annoyed growl and started stomping over to Mario, intent on forcibly removing any distractions.

"_Hey!_ Where d'you think yer goin', partner?" Snatchel snapped as he and the others raced in front of the oversized Koopa. "You want a fight, then you got one right here!"

"Yeah! If you want Mario, then you gotta get through _us _first!" said Hanner, pulling out her hammer with a look that said she meant business.

That finally got Mario's attention. "What – no! Guys!" He turned away from Goomblaine. "You can't! He's too strong! You have to – "

He broke off as Dulia suddenly gave him a sad, nervous smile. "Don't worry about us, Mario. We'll be fine," she promised, though everyone in the room knew it was a lie. "You're a really good teacher, after all."

"Yeah. We'll take care of Bowser," said Hanner, looking determined but grim. "And you… you take care of Goomblaine…"

Mario couldn't believe what he was seeing. His partners were sacrificing themselves just to buy him time… time he wouldn't even need if he hadn't screwed things up with Goomblaine in the first place…

Bowser let out an angry huff. "Fine, then! Getting rid of you shrimps should be no problem at all!" he growled. Without warning, he swiped a massive clawed hand at the partners, scattering them right off the bat.

Mario didn't get to see any more, as he was caught off guard by a painful blow to the head. He spun around and saw Goomblaine advancing on him, his eyes blazing, looking ready to do something he couldn't take back.

For a split second, Mario flashed back to their very first battle back in Soluna Town. He could end this the way he'd ended it then… he didn't have time for this, he had to go help the others… his fingers twitched over his hammer…

_No._

He stood back, horrified at what he'd almost done. _I can't fight him. Never. If I do then I lose him forever. _He put his hammer away.

Goomblaine obviously didn't care. He smacked Mario in the face again, screaming angrily as the plumber was sent reeling backwards, wincing in pain. Without waiting for Mario to recover, he rushed up and Headbonked him, sending him collapsing to the floor.

But Mario just pulled himself back to his feet. "Goomblaine. Please," he said quietly. He wasn't even angry, he realized; just sad. "Please. You're our friend. You don't have to do this."

"Shut up!" Goomblaine shouted at him. "Stop actin' like you know me! You don't know _anything _about me!"

He rushed forward and started beating Mario up all over again. Mario didn't even try to get out of the way. He just stood there, watching the whole thing sadly, taking it like a man.

The fight against Blackout Bowser was a hopeless one. Hanner was throwing hammer after hammer until her arm was sore, but they all glanced harmlessly off his shell. Dulia's Head Missile was useless, and she could barely throw up Plasma Shields fast enough to protect herself and the others from Bowser's crushing claws. Ferdinand couldn't even get in close enough for a Beak Jab before the Koopa King gave him a painful chomp and sent him plummeting out of the air.

"We need Mario!" Dulia cried out, and they all knew it was true. Mario knew how to fight Bowser, and he was the one who organized them all during the tough battles. If he'd been there to coordinate them, they may have had a chance. But without their leader, there was nothing they could do.

"_Graw haw haw! _Come on, is that all you got?" Bowser laughed, effortlessly shattering Dulia's Plasma Shield with another swipe of his hand. "I thought friends of Mario's would give me a bigger challenge!"

Maizee suddenly grew a determined frown. She raced up behind him and started singing the most potent Lullaby she knew, intent on putting him to sleep. Bowser heard the melody and suddenly felt himself growing drowsy… only to snap out of it almost instantly and round on Maizee with an annoyed snarl.

"And what's this? A pretty little _flower?_" he sneered, relishing the frightened look on her face. "You of all people should know better than to play with _fire!_"

And in a split second, he opened his mouth and let loose the hottest and most devastating fire blast of the entire battle.

"_Maizee!_" cried several partners, but it all happened so fast, she couldn't react in time; all she had time to do was cry out and throw her arm over her face, squeezing her eyes shut and bracing herself for the end… which never came, because Snatchel shoved her out of the way.

Everyone screamed, but her scream was the loudest and most desperate of all as the flames roared right by her face and his charred body toppled over onto the ground.

Goomblaine was pummeling Mario over and over, knocking him around at every angle and driving him backwards. Mario tried to fight back his rising panic: how much longer would Goomblaine go? He'd proven his point already, he was the clear winner, but he was still as angry as ever, he wasn't letting up, he _wasn't stopping…_

But still Mario refused to pull out his hammer.

"Why don't you _fight _me, Fat Man?" Goomblaine snarled as he slugged Mario in the stomach. "Fighting's what you're good at, ain't it?"

"I could never hurt you, Goomblaine. You're my friend."

"NO I'M NOT! Stop _sayin' _that!"

The fact that Mario wasn't fighting back was just driving Goomblaine over the edge. He was screaming in frustration as he dealt blow after blow. Mario was aching all over, his vision was swimming, and he could barely stand on his feet anymore.

But every time Goomblaine knocked him to the ground, he just got back up. He had to see this through. He had to fix this.

"Goomblaine. Listen to me," he said urgently. "I know how you must feel right now. I know how angry you must be."

"You don't know _anything!_" Goomblaine snapped back. "You have no idea what I've been through!"

"You're right. I can't imagine what you've been through. But I _do_ know what it's like to lose somebody you love," said Mario, as a little rainbow-colored butterfly flitted through his mind. "And I'm not losing you too. I'm _not_."

Mario's partners were dropping like flies. Stubba tried to incapacitate Blackout Bowser by performing his Shock Wave, curling up as he jumped high into the air and then slamming into the ground as hard as he could. The resulting tremor rattled Bowser's brain around in his skull and left him Confused, as well as flipping him over on his back since he had a shell. But even in that state he was so furious that he just started spewing fire in every direction, not caring what he hit. Stubba couldn't get out of the way in time.

"Goomblaine, you _know _you don't want to do this," Mario wheezed, clutching at his bruised stomach. "Deep down, you know this is wrong."

"Why do _you _think you know that?" Goomblaine demanded, kicking him right in the face.

Mario staggered backwards. "Because you _stayed_, didn't you?"

Goomblaine paused.

"Goomblaine, I know how angry you must be at the Guardians. You think it's their fault that your… that your parents aren't around. You have every right to be angry."

He lowered his gaze. "You have a right to be angry at me too. Everything you said back there… you were right. You were right and I was wrong. And I'm so, so sorry – "

"Oh, yeah, _now _you're sorry!" Goomblaine sneered, smacking him across the face again. "It's kinda late for that, after everything you made me go through – "

"So _why did you stay?_" Mario repeated. Once again, Goomblaine suddenly fell still, looking confused.

"I didn't _make _you go through anything. You could have left anytime you wanted, you know. There was nothing I could have done to stop you," Mario went on. "But you stayed, Goomblaine. Even though it hurt you so badly, even though it was just a reminder of what happened, you stayed. Why?"

Goomblaine just stared at him, suddenly starting to shake. "I…"

"Because you knew the Guardians had to come back," Mario answered for him. "Because you saw what King Shroude did, and you knew… no matter what it meant for you personally, the world _needed _the Guardians. So you put your prejudice aside, and you stayed. Because you were strong enough."

He heard Hanner let out a strangled cry as she collapsed to the ground. She was the last one. His partners had all fallen still behind him.

"_That's _why I know you can't do this. That's why I know you'll do the right thing." He staggered and almost fell. "And if I have to end my own game to prove it to you, then so be it."

Goomblaine didn't move. He didn't attack Mario again. He just stood there staring at him, trembling all over, his eyes wide. He didn't look angry anymore, he just looked so hurt and lonely and confused…

"MARIO!" came a roar, and Mario spun around to see Blackout Bowser advancing on him. "I've had enough of this! I took care of your puny little friends, now _stand and face me!_"

Mario balked at the sight of him. His partners hadn't even landed a scratch on Bowser, while he himself could barely even stand. Goomblaine had injured him badly. He didn't stand a chance in this battle, not by himself…

"Fine," he finally said, pulling out his hammer and ignoring how much of an effort it was to do so. "You want me, Bowser, you got me."

Goomblaine stood back and stared at him. "What are you – "

"Goomblaine, you have to get out of here!" Mario shouted over his shoulder. "I'll hold him off! You just get out of here and save yourself! Hurry!"

But Goomblaine still didn't move. He could only watch in horror as Mario tried vainly to fight back against Bowser's teeth and claws and fire, swinging his hammer but never landing a hit, barely even able to defend himself. But Mario was desperate by now, not even trying to win, just trying to protect his friend, like he should have been doing all along…

It was over within moments. Mario fell to the floor, gasping in pain, his hammer flying out of his hand as Blackout Bowser towered over him, his eyes glinting as a toothy grin spread across his face.

"It's been nice knowin' ya, Mario!" he laughed before he opened his mouth and prepared a final fire blast. Mario could only wince and brace himself, praying that Goomblaine had made it out safely, praying that he'd saved him, that he'd at least been able to fix things before the end –

Bowser was suddenly struck in the head. He roared in shock and staggered backwards, his fire blast going off in the wrong direction as the thing – no, the _person _who'd struck him suddenly landed on the ground, standing protectively between him and Mario.

Mario lifted his head up and stared. "_Goomblaine?_"

"You're a freak!" Goomblaine spat at him, tears springing to his eyes. "A dumb, stupid _freak! _Ya know that?"

Mario gawked at him for a moment before he remembered where he was and hastily climbed to his feet, grabbing his hammer off the ground. In the same amount of time, Bowser managed to clear his head.

"Ugh… what do you think you're doing, Pizza Topping?" he demanded. "Are you on Mario's side or not?"

"We're _ending _this, Bowser," Mario snapped, coming up to him with his hammer in his hands. "We need that Sun Soul, and you're not keeping it from us." Goomblaine said nothing, but the glare he gave Bowser said that he agreed.

Bowser blinked slowly before growling. "All right, fine! Be that way! Let's boogie!"

He let loose another blast of black fire at the two of them, but they both dodged it, and then Goomblaine pulled out his phone. "That's Blackout Bowser! King Shroude juiced him up and made him way stronger than normal, so his fire breath will probably _own _you if you get hit! He can use his teeth and claws to fight too, and his shell's tougher and can handle pretty much anything, but he's still the same dumb Koopa he's always been! We can trick him!"

Bowser frowned. "Hey! Do you mind? I'm standing right here!"

He started chasing after Mario, who was running on pure force of will by now. As he swung his clawed hand at Mario, the plumber threw up his hammer and blocked it, trying to force Bowser backwards. While they were distracted, Goomblaine ran up from behind and delivered a Multibonk to Bowser's head, causing the Koopa King to roar in frustration.

"How dare you disrespect the great King Bowser!" he shouted, swinging his claws repeatedly at Goomblaine, but the Goomba ducked and dodged his every blow before throwing in another Headbonk. Bowser punished him by body checking him and sending him flying into a wall, but Mario immediately came to his rescue. He steeled himself and jumped high into the air, throwing a Power Smash down right on Bowser's head.

"GRAH! STOP IT! Enough already!" Bowser roared, attempting to barbecue them with another fire blast, but Mario pulled Goomblaine out of the way just in time. By now Bowser was so frustrated that he just kept firing blast after blast at them, but the two of them ran around the periphery of the room too quickly for him to catch.

"He's gotta run out of firepower sometime," Mario muttered as they skidded to a stop. "What was that about tricking him?"

"I bet he doesn't like getting made fun of," Goomblaine said knowingly. Mario grinned as an idea formed in his mind.

"Hey _Whackout _Bowser!" he shouted, stepping forward. "So you really think you're hot stuff, huh? You call those _horns? _I've seen bigger horns at a high school band concert!"

Bowser's eyes bulged. "WHY YOU – NOBODY TRASH TALKS THE HORNS!" he bellowed, shooting more black flames from his mouth. But it was no use; Mario was too fast.

"YAHOO!" the plumber cheered as he ran back and forth, dodging the flames and taunting Bowser all the while. The Koopa King was getting so furious, he didn't even notice Goomblaine until he'd slammed into him with a mighty Headbonk and driven him right into the floor.

"All right, that _does _it! Prepare for _mushroom flambé!_" he roared, opening his mouth and preparing to burn Goomblaine alive… but when he tried, only a weak puff of smoke came out.

He blinked. "What? _No!_" He desperately tried again, but Mario's ploy had worked; he was all out of fire.

"NO, NO, _NO! _CURSE YOU, MARIO! YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!"

"Maybe someday… but not today," Mario said decisively. "Let's finish this."

Without his firepower, Bowser had to resort to using his teeth and claws to fight, and while they were strong, it was nothing Mario and Goomblaine couldn't handle. While Bowser was distracted trying to hit one (and not always succeeding), the other would throw in a powerful Headbonk or Power Smash to throw him off balance. The two of them ganged up on him, fighting in perfect synchronicity as they slowly but surely drove him backwards.

Finally Bowser had grown too tired to stand. He feebly tried taking a bite out of Mario, but the plumber easily deflected him with a swing from his hammer. Bowser let out a despairing moan as he sank to his knees, completely out of energy.

"Why… why… _why?_" he cried. "I spent the whole time preparing for this… passing all these tests… proving I was worthy… getting these awesome powers…" He threw up his head. "_Why _can't I beat you no matter what I do?"

"I'll tell you why," Mario said tonelessly. "I'm Super Mario."

With one more Power Smash to the head, Bowser let out a defeated groan and toppled over, crashing to the ground. Mario and Goomblaine stood back and watched, and after a brief moment he was suddenly consumed by a cloud of black smoke, spiraling up to the ceiling the same way the first one had.

When the smoke finally cleared away, Blackout Bowser was gone.

Mario stood where he was for a moment, letting it all sink in. His adrenaline rush was wearing off, and he let out a groan as he collapsed to the ground, his head spinning and his body aching, completely exhausted.

Naturally, his partners picked that very moment to get back up.

"Ohhh… what happened?" Hanner moaned, slowly pulling herself up into a sitting position. "Ow… okay, that guy was really tough…"

"Hey, where is he?" asked Stubba, sitting up and looking around in confusion. "Where's Bowser? He's gone!"

"Uh… I guess that means we beat him?" said Ferdinand, looking pretty pleased. "Heh. Gnarly, man!"

Dulia was the first to notice Mario. "Oh, Mario!" she cried, running over to him. "Are you okay? You look awful… what happened to you?"

"Did _you _beat Bowser, Mario?" asked Stubba as he and the others followed Dulia over to him, helping him back up.

"Ugh… yeah, I guess I did," he chuckled, swaying on his feet as his partners steadied him. "Oof… don't worry about me, guys. I'm fine. I'm just glad you're all okay."

But as he quickly found out, they weren't all okay.

"Snatchel?" came a panicked voice. Everyone turned and saw the sheriff lying deathly still on the ground, covered in burns, Maizee kneeling over him with a pleading look on her face. "No, no, _no! _Snatchel, you can't do this to me! _Please! _Please, you have to open your eyes! You – have – to – wake – _up!_"

She started shaking him, and when he didn't respond, Mario and the others' eyes widened in horror and they raced over to him. Maizee's pleas finally grew incoherent as she started crying, shaking her head, looking ready to come undone…

And then Snatchel opened his eyes.

Maizee gasped and fell silent as he slowly sat up and looked at her with a wide-eyed expression… and then she frowned angrily and gave him a hard slap in the face.

"Don't _ever _do that again, you big oaf! Aren't you even the least bit considerate?"

Everyone looked at her in confusion, Snatchel most of all. "…What?" he said, frowning defensively. "C'mon, darlin', that ain't called for – "

He was cut off as Maizee suddenly threw her arms around him and gave him a big long kiss.

When she finally broke off in order to lean against him with a relieved smile, he was looking dazed and slightly cross-eyed. He glanced over at Mario and the others, who all gave him grins of approval. Ferdinand flashed him a thumbs-up (somehow), Stubba giggled happily and Hanner threw up her arms and shouted "FINALLY!"

"Hey… Goomblaine?"

Mario's heart skipped a beat. Dulia was the one who had spoken, and he and the others quickly fell quiet and turned to find her looking at the Goomba, who was standing several feet away from the rest of them.

"Goomblaine… did… did you help Mario beat Bowser, too? Did _you _save us?"

Everyone was looking at him expectantly, but he didn't answer. For once in his life, he looked completely unsure of himself.

"Yes. Yes, he did help me," Mario quickly spoke up, walking over to Goomblaine's side. "I couldn't have won without him. Thank you, Goomblaine."

But still the Goomba said nothing. He had no idea what he _could _say. He just gazed at Mario with a completely lost expression. It was so strange to see him not looking angry…

"I… I…"

"Hey, Goomblaine-dude… I hope you're not still mad at us for being Guardians and stuff," Ferdinand said quietly. "You know you're our bro, dude. We didn't want any of that stuff to happen to you."

"Yeah! You're our friend," Stubba said fervently. "And we're really sorry about your mom an' dad… please don't be mad."

Goomblaine glanced up at them. "No… I'm not mad," he finally decided, then gave Mario a pained look. "But… Fat Man… I mean, Mario…"

"Goomblaine, it's all right. I'm not angry at you for any of those things," Mario promised him, getting down on one knee so he could look his partner in the eye. "But, Goomblaine… you should have said something. All this time… you should have told us."

Goomblaine gave a light scoff. "Like you woulda cared," he muttered, though there was no heart in his words.

"Honey, of course we would have cared. Whatever made you think we wouldn't?" asked Maizee.

"I know it might feel like you don't have anybody… but that's not true," said Dulia. "Because your family is everybody who loves you. And we… well… we could be a family for you… if you wanted us to."

Goomblaine looked at all of them with wide eyes, seeing the friendly and encouraging looks they were giving him. He couldn't believe it. After all this time… after everything he'd done and said… they had no reason to want him around, but they still did… they _did_…

Finally he couldn't hold it in anymore. He bowed his head and squeezed his eyes shut as tears ran down his face.

"Aw, geez… I'm gonna lose all my street cred if I keep cryin' like this."

"Goomblaine, you're one of us. You lost your street cred a _long _time ago," Hanner said affectionately.

Mario smiled, but the smile quickly fell from his face and everything else was pushed from his mind when he noticed the bright glow out of the corner of his eye.

Everyone turned and stared.

A brilliant, pure white Sun Soul was floating in the air, and even then it was slowly drifting over to them. Its silver waves were shining, and its bright glow lit up the room around them, drowning out the light of the black flames. Mario could feel its pure power, unlike almost anything he'd ever felt before, and he smiled in astonishment at the feeling of warmth and happiness it gave off. It was shining so brightly… so much brighter than he'd expected… almost as though it were reacting to…

And then suddenly, everything was clear.

Every one of them, even King Shroude himself, had been wrong. The Master of Day wasn't Peach at all.

Everyone stared as the Sun Soul came to a stop… but no one stared more than Goomblaine.

"But… but…" he said softly, disbelievingly. "But I…" Suddenly he started trembling and the tears started falling all over again. "But it was s'posed to be her! Why me? …_Why_ _me?_"

Mario was completely dumbfounded. For the longest time he couldn't find his voice. All he could do was stare.

"…I understand now," he finally said. "Goomblaine… you remember what I said to you, about how you were helping us bring back the Guardians… no matter what it meant to you personally?" he asked. "I think that's why. If the Master of Day were Peach… it wouldn't have meant as much."

"Yeah… I guess the Master of Day had to be somebody who would always defend the Guardians, no matter what happened," Hanner said softly, still gazing at the Sun Soul in complete awe. "And that's exactly what you did, Goomblaine. You always helped us, even though you didn't want to. Even though it was hard." She glanced down at her shoes. "That… that's what I think."

"Well, whaddaya know," Snatchel chuckled, removing his hat reverently. "I don't reckon I coulda picked a better one myself."

His other partners were all smiling, but Mario was looking intently at Goomblaine. "So, Goomblaine… what do you say?" he said encouragingly. "You think you're up to it? You ready to lead the Guardians of Day and save the world?"

Hanner grinned and gave a salute. "We're behind you all the way, Mr. Master of Day, sir."

For a moment Goomblaine was silent, looking unsurely at the other partners, then at the brilliant Sun Soul before him, whose very presence seemed to drain all his sadness away and fill him with a glowing light…

And then finally, he looked at Mario.

"Ya know what… I think I _am _ready," he said. "Let's go teach that King Shroude freak a lesson he won't ever forget."

All the other partners cheered, and Goomblaine smiled, and Mario thought that if only they were back in Dayside his smile would have been brilliant enough to snuff out the sun.

_**Mario found the Day Soul! His Star Power is now 7! With Goomblaine's help, he can now use the special move, Shine Down!**_

**~END OF CHAPTER~**

_King Shroude had hidden the seventh Sun Soul, the most powerful one of all, within the darkened halls of his fortress. Reaching the fortress was no easy task, but Mario rescued the Sun Soul and also found its true owner. With the Guardians of Day and the Master of Day at his side, the time has come for Mario's final confrontation… the battle to determine the fate of Chronoside is about to begin… _

_**To Be Continued…**_

––––

**A/N: **If this were a real game with a battle system comparable to TTYD, Goomblaine would refuse to use Stylish moves or the Appeal command until the end of Chapter 7.

I'm sure you guys have all been waiting for this for a very long time… I know I have ^_^ And this also means that the very last arc of this story is about to begin! We're almost done!


	49. Chapter 7 Interlude

_**The Temple of the Sun**_

_**00:00**_

King Shroude was pacing back and forth within the huge room that held the Aeon Clock. He was muttering darkly to himself, quickly running out of patience.

"Where _is _that huge lug?" he grumbled, still casting a shadowy ripple behind him as he walked. "He _must _have beaten Mario by now… this is ridiculous…"

He wasn't naïve enough to think that Mario wouldn't somehow find his way to the fortress. Why else would Shroude have gone through the trouble finding the perfect person to guard the final Sun Soul? Still, he'd given Bowser explicit orders to report back here the moment Mario was taken care of, and so far he'd heard nothing…

But then, right on cue, a huge plume of smoke suddenly rose out of the floor, causing the temperature in the room to drop. Shroude turned around expectantly as Blackout Bowser materialized from within the smoke – and then his eyes bulged from behind his hair as he saw that the Koopa King was sprawled on the ground, covered in bruises and badly beaten.

"Ooooh… ugh…" he groaned, his eyes only half open. "Ohhhh, my aching shell… I didn't even think that thing _could _ache…"

"King Bowser? What is the meaning of this?" Shroude snarled, stomping over to him in an instant. "What happened back there? Did – "

He paused.

"Don't tell me," he said, in a voice so cold that the temperature seemed to drop even more. "Mario… he didn't… _beat _you, did he?"

Bowser wearily lifted his head up and managed a sheepish grin. "Uh… well… that depends on your definition of 'beat'," he said uneasily. "I guess I may have, uh… gotten cut off before I could finish the job."

The halls of the Temple of the Sun suddenly began echoing with the infuriated shrieks of King Shroude as he lost all control, gripping his scepter and shooting a chaotic barrage of black lightning bolts in every direction.

"YOWZA! Watch your blood pressure, freakshow!" Bowser cried, covering his head as a lightning bolt flew over him and blasted the wall behind him.

"You were given _one task_, King Bowser," Shroude said dangerously, his entire body crackling with black electricity as his hair stood on end. "And that was to _defeat Mario. _You assured me that _you _were the right one for this job, and yet you FAILED!"

He punctuated the last word with another bolt of lightning that streaked all the way up to the ceiling, filling the entire room with a deafening crash and boom.

"Uh… well, to be fair, it wasn't just Mario," said Bowser, getting kind of nervous. "It was… Mario and a Goomba?"

The look Shroude gave him instantly told him he'd said the _completely _wrong thing.

"Uh… well, y'know, he just pulled a fast one on me, I guess," he said lamely. "But, uh, hey… there's no chance I could get some alone time with Princess Peach anyway, is there? You know, as… thanks for trying?"

Shroude's answer was a lightning bolt right to Bowser's face, causing him to explode into black smoke and vanish out of the Temple.

"Mario has the last Sun Soul. He has _all _of them," he muttered once he was alone, his shoulders sagging. "This is ridiculous. This is _unthinkable_. How could one short little man with such _atrocious _facial hair cause so much damage?"

He wearily hanged his head for a moment before his face grew firm.

"Well, it doesn't matter. He may have the Sun Soul, but _I _have Princess Peach… and she is not long for this world. Without her, the Sun Soul won't do a thing to protect Mario from his fate."

He straightened up and scowled. "I supposed it's true what they say then… if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself." He stomped his scepter into the floor. "You may have thoroughly humiliated my lieutenants, Mario, but you haven't won yet! Go ahead and come here if you think you're ready – we'll see just how you fare against the _ruler_ of this world! The supreme Master of Night!"

He grinned, baring his sharp teeth as a shadow suddenly began spreading out from underneath him, rising up the wall behind him and turning the corner of the room pitch black.

"And let's not forget… you're not the _only _one with Guardians on your side."

From within the shadow, there suddenly appeared six glowing pairs of eyes…

––

––

_**Soluna Town**_

_**12:00 Noon**_

"My, it certainly is nice out, isn't it? And so peaceful," sighed a Toad as he walked through the quiet center of town where the Star Pedestal was located.

"It certainly is," agreed the female Toad he was holding hands with. "What a relief – that gigantic Koopa thing who was wandering around town is finally gone! I was starting to think it'd never be safe to go outside again!"

That very instant, a huge cloud of smoke rose up right in front of them and revealed the dazed and weary Bowser lying on the ground.

"OH COME ON! THIS ISN'T FUNNY!" the male Toad shouted as the two of them ran off screaming in panic.

"Urgh… oh great. Where am I _now?_" Bowser complained, rubbing his head and looking around. "Oh no… I'm back in _this _dump again? How am I supposed to find Peach now? I – "

He paused, suddenly noticing his hand. It wasn't blue anymore, but back to its normal color.

"What the – "

He looked down and realized his entire body was back to normal. Not only that, but he was down to his regular size, not huge anymore. The powers King Shroude had given him were all gone.

"What? Oh _come on! So _not fair!" he roared, angrily stomping the ground. "That guy can't just ditch me here like this! This whole thing was worth absolutely nothing!"

And then came a voice he had not been expecting to hear at all.

"Lord Bowser! Lord Bowser! Is that really you?"

Bowser turned around in surprise to find none other than Kammy Koopa tottering over to him in a hurry, waving her staff around in a panic.

"Huff… huff… it _is _you, Lord Bowser! I… ooh, my aching hip… I – ACK!" She was abruptly cut off as Bowser grabbed her by the throat.

"Where the heck have you _been_, you smelly old hag?" he roared in her face. "I've been looking everywhere for you! Are you so senile that you _forgot what your job is?_"

"Ack… wait, your odiferousness!" Kammy choked out. "I swear, I've been looking for you as well! We were separated somehow when we got here, and then… well, things got a bit confusing…"

Bowser snorted and let go of her. "Oh please. You think it's been confusing for _you? _I've spent the past who-knows-how-long dealing with these freaky little imp guys who wanted me to guard some stupid glowy egg thing of theirs!" he growled. "I only did it so I'd have the chance to wail on Mario, and what does that obnoxious plumber do? He hands my shell to me! _Again!_"

Kammy watched him in confusion as he started stomping the ground again. "Wait a moment… you said you've been working with a group of strange little imps?" she repeated. "Why, that's exactly what I've been doing!"

Bowser broke off from his tantrum and stared at her. "Huh?"

"Yes, and I fought Mario as well! I can't believe you weren't there to see it, Lord Bowser!" she exclaimed. "But then not too long ago, I was suddenly summoned into some kind of enormous temple with shining golden walls. There was a man there in bad need of a haircut, and he said… there was a change of plans, and I was dismissed from his service. And then… well, I'm not exactly sure what he did then, but here I am."

Bowser looked at her in disbelief. "Aw, come _on_, Kammy! That guy with the crazy hair is the one who's holding Princess Peach captive! We have to go back to that temple place _now _and trounce the guy!"

"Er… begging your pardon, your scaliness," Kammy said uneasily as Bowser began storming off, "but do you even know _where _this temple is, or how to get there?"

Bowser instantly came to a stop, his eyes narrowing impatiently as he realized the answer.

"No. I do not."

He groaned, sitting down on the same bench that he'd already broken. "Oh, who am I kidding… Mario's here somewhere, and we all _know _he's gonna beat Mr. Hairy and rescue Peach. He always does." He smirked. "Heh, yeah… we might as well just have him do the dirty work for us. Hah! Finally, that annoying Mario will be _good _for something!"

"An excellent plan as always, Lord Bowser!" Kammy said loyally.

"Yeah, it is, isn't it?" Bowser said with a grin, jumping back to his feet. "And once Peach is back home safe and sound in the castle, I'll just swoop in and kidnap her for real! This whole wacky field trip was just a little detour!" He laughed in triumph. "_Graw haw haw! _Tomorrow's another day, Kammy! Or at least it would be if the sun ever set in this dumb place! Now come on, let's go home."

Kammy blinked in surprise. "What – so soon?"

"Duh! I'm sick of this place. People throw cans at me! I don't wanna be here a minute longer than we have to." He stomped off toward the exit of the town. "Oh… but there _is _one more thing…"

He had stopped right in front of the store, and he smashed the window with his fist and grabbed a Super Shroom off the shelf.

"A snack for the road!" he declared, wagging his eyebrows. "Now come on, let's fly!"

"At once, your wickedness!" said Kammy, hurrying along after him.

The Toad inside the shop, who had just finished repairing the door after his _last _encounter with Bowser, now found himself frozen in disbelief as he clutched his broom and stared down at the shattered glass littering the floor.

"This is the worst neighborhood ever."

––––

**A/N: **That was really short and pointless! :D Which means the post chapter will also be up very shortly.

Oh and guess whose birthday it is today? Mwahahaha!


	50. Post Chapter 7

_**Soluna Town**_

_**12:00 Noon**_

Just outside of Rodolfo's house, everything was quiet and still and there were no passerby to be found… and then out of nowhere, there came a blinding flash as Mario's party suddenly appeared, crying out in shock as they were unceremoniously dumped in the middle of the street.

"Ow… what in the… what just happened?" Mario groaned, lying sprawled on the ground with Stubba on his back. He lifted his head up and looked around. "We're… back in Soluna Town?"

"Well, that's a relief… but _how?_" asked Dulia as she sat up, looking astonished. "We… we were just back in King Shroude's Fortress, and then… what happened?"

As Mario sat up and Stubba rolled off his back, he realized that the last thing they'd seen before winding up here was the Sun Soul. It had been glowing so brightly that it had suddenly grown blinding…

He grinned. "It was the Sun Soul," he said confidently. "Hah. Didn't I tell you guys? All this time we had nothing to worry about."

Maizee gave him a smirk. "As I recall, you were just as scared as the rest of us, Mario."

"…Yeah, well…"

Before anyone could say any more, the door to Rodolfo's house was thrown open and the Doogan stuck his head out, Luigi and Toadsworth peering over his shoulder. "_Mario?_" he cried in astonishment. "Where on earth have you _been? _What happened just now? You go storming out of the house and the next thing I know you've vanished! And now you suddenly appear back here without so much as a – "

"Woah, woah. Take it easy, Rodolfo," Mario said with a smile, picking himself up along with his partners. "Look, I'm sorry if I was being rash back there. But everything's fine now."

"_Fine?_" Toadsworth repeated, suddenly looking furious and shoving Rodolfo out of the way. "Good sir, everything is most certainly _not _fine! Judging by her absence from your party, Princess Peach is _still _in terrible danger!"

"Yes, well… I think we have a way of fixing that now."

So they all went back inside Rodolfo's house – possibly for the last time, Mario realized – and filled the Doogan in on everything they had learned, where they had been, and what had happened while they were there. It was quite a lot to swallow, and unsurprisingly, Rodolfo was left nearly speechless with shock.

"Incredible… absolutely astounding…" he whispered, staring at the seventh Sun Soul as Mario held it out for him. "There's no mention of anything like this in any text I've ever read… and King Shroude has captured Princess Peach because he believes it belongs to her…" His eyes were drawn over to Goomblaine. "But it actually belongs to… this young fellow?"

Goomblaine smiled a little. "Uh, yeah, I guess… definitely didn't see that one comin'."

"Mario! Do you realize what this _means?_" Rodolfo cried, throwing his arms up as he tended to do during times like this. "All this time, the Master of Day has been among us and we had no idea! With him and the six Guardians of Day on our side, why, there's _nothing _we can't accomplish! That fool King Shroude has no idea what he's gotten into!" He chuckled. "Oh, what I wouldn't give to see the look on his face when he finds out…"

"So what's the game plan now, big bro?" Luigi asked excitedly. "I mean, now that you have all the Sun Souls and stuff, what's going to happen?"

"Well, if everything goes like we planned… we go to the Temple of the Sun, beat the bad guy, rescue Peach, and save the world. Shouldn't be too hard… I hope."

"Uh, yeah… just one little problem," Hanner spoke up. "Isn't the Temple of the Sun in a whole other dimension or something? How are we even gonna get there?"

The confident smile quickly fell from Mario's face. "Oh, right… I didn't even think of that. It sort of happened spontaneously last time… I have no idea how to get there again."

"Uh, hey, dudes," said Ferdinand, and everyone turned to see him gazing out the window with a worried look on his face. "I think that might not be our only problem."

Everyone gathered around him and looked out the window along with him… and their eyes all widened at once. They hurried over to the door, Mario threw it open and everyone raced out into the street to get a better look at what was happening.

An enormous group of billowing black thunderheads had suddenly risen up in the sky, just behind the Soluna Temple. They were moving very quickly, spreading out to cover the entire sky in their darkness. The people wandering around outside quickly stopped what they were doing, pointing at the clouds and whispering worriedly to each other.

Rodolfo, Luigi and Toadsworth all got a chill. They recognized those clouds; they were the same ones that had appeared just after Mario had vanished inside the Soluna Temple… just before King Shroude had appeared to commit his terrible act…

"W-what's happening out there?" Dulia stammered as a chilly breeze began to blow.

"King Shroude is consolidating his power," Rodolfo said gravely. "He's preparing to deliver his final blow against the world of Day."

Mario stared at him. "But he can't!" he protested. "I mean, Peach isn't the one he needs… right?"

"Even so, he doesn't realize that yet… and Master of Day or no Master of Day, we must not underestimate his power," the Doogan said in a low voice. He gazed up into the clouds. "And I believe there's another reason for this, Mario… he's challenging you. He's daring you to come and face him."

"Well then, it'd be downright dishonorable if we didn't answer, now wouldn't it?" Snatchel growled. He and Maizee had instinctively drawn together.

No one could think of anything to say after that. They continued to stare up at the clouds as they crawled across the sky, finally reaching the sun at its zenith. The sun was swallowed up by the mass of black, and a shadow instantly plummeted over all of Soluna Town.

"This is all my fault," Goomblaine suddenly spoke up, and everyone turned to look at him.

"He's after _me. _I'm the one he wants," he went on, looking pained. "But Peach – she's got nothin' to do with this, but he's gonna – "

"Goomblaine, no. This _isn't _your fault. Not at all," Mario said firmly. "In fact, we never even could have started without you. If you hadn't run into the Temple of the Sun in the first place, and I hadn't followed you… well, we'd both be split in half, wouldn't we? We'd be no help to anybody."

Goomblaine actually smiled at that – Mario would never get tired of seeing that. "But… but what's gonna happen to her?"

"We're _saving _her, that's what's gonna happen," Hanner said as though it were obvious. "We're busting up King Shroude before he lays a finger on her."

Mario nodded. "But before we do that…" he recalled, "there's still one last thing to take care of."

––

Most of the townspeople had hurried inside at the sight of the foreboding clouds, meaning the relaxing area with the park benches was deserted when Mario and the others arrived.

"We've still got two more Lumas to set free… and something tells me that if we want to beat Shroude, we _all _have to be as strong as possible," said Mario as they all walked over to the Star Pedestal. Maizee and Ferdinand quickly stepped forward as he brought the Lumas out. One after another they were placed on the pedestal, and one after another his last two partners were upgraded.

_Maizee was upgraded to Ultra Rank! She can now use Showstopper to attack all enemies with the chance of putting them to sleep!_

_Ferdinand was upgraded to Ultra Rank! He can now use Tsunami to knock all enemies out of the battle!_

Mario gazed after the Lumas as a beam of light came down from the dark clouds and carried them both off into the sky. "Good luck, you guys," he muttered as they went. "I hope you make it back where you belong… I hope we do, too."

After that, the group turned around and walked over to the other side of town, stopping over at the shop as they did. They glanced in confusion at the shattered window and the exasperated Toad sweeping up the glass, but decided not to bring it up. Knowing this was his last chance to spend any money, Mario emptied his pockets buying all the items he could carry, feeling certain they would need every last one.

When they felt certain they were ready, they finally headed over to where the Soluna Temple was located. Luigi, Toadsworth and Rodolfo had already walked over there and were standing in front of the entrance, waiting for them.

"So, uh… any thoughts on how you're getting back to that Temple of the Sun place, bro?" Luigi asked nervously as they all came walking up the steps.

"Well, this is where it happened the first time… the Soluna Temple became a gateway from the Temple of the Sun…" said Mario, remembering how Rodolfo had phrased it. "It's gotta happen again, doesn't it? I mean, we're in the middle of a crisis. And we've got the Guardians right here."

"That's quite true. I'm sure the power your friends possess will be more than enough to carry you where you need to go," Rodolfo agreed, nodding confidently. "Mario… everyone… I realize this may not be the ideal time, but… I must thank you for everything you've done. It was pure luck that you came to us during this horrible time. If anyone can put an end to Shroude and right this wrong, I'm certain you can."

Mario smiled. "Well, we couldn't have made it this far without you, Rodolfo. You're the biggest help we could ask for."

"Even if he is a little… eccentric," Hanner whispered to Stubba, and he giggled.

"…Yes, well…" Rodolfo suddenly looked a little flustered, not knowing exactly how to deal with the emotional moment. So he quickly straightened up instead. "Well, then! Hurry up and get going, all of you! We haven't a moment to waste! King Shroude must be defeated, and _quickly!_"

Mario chuckled a little. "You got it." He looked at the Doogan, as well as Luigi and Toadsworth. "Goodbye, everybody. The next time you see us, we'll have Peach… and this will all be over. I promise."

And he pushed the wooden doors open and stepped inside the temple, his partners loyally following after him.

"Good luck, bro," Luigi said timidly once the door had slammed shut.

"Good luck, Mario," Rodolfo agreed. "For the sake of everyone in Chronoside… and for the sake of Day itself…"

––

Inside the Soluna Temple, it was dark and deserted as always. Once his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Mario noticed the spiral staircase he'd gone up the first time. He walked over to it, disappointed to find that it simply led up to the top floor. There was no mystical purple veil, no sign that they could access the Temple of the Sun at all from here.

"Well… this is where we're supposed to go," he said unsurely as he gazed up at it. "But I don't know what to do from here. We got to the Temple of the Sun completely by accident before… I suppose the Guardians must have done it."

"Well, _we're_ the Guardians now, aren't we?" Hanner reasoned, stepping forward. "_Hey! Listen up!_" she shouted, though at whom or what she wasn't really sure. "We're the Guardians of Day, and we have to get back to the Temple of the Sun, right this minute! So, uh… OPEN UP!"

Mario gave her a look. "Hanner, I don't think that's – "

He was cut off by a sudden brilliant flash that lit up the entire room. Mario yelped in shock and covered his eyes, and when he opened them again, he was astonished to find that the top floor had completely vanished. In its place was the same writhing, shimmering veil he'd seen before, shining like starlight and illuminating the deserted temple.

There was no doubt in anyone's mind where it led.

"…Wow. I can't believe that actually worked," Hanner said sheepishly as they all stared.

And that wasn't all that happened. Mario didn't know if it was because of the sudden appearance of the veil, or if it was just the right time, but all of a sudden all seven of his partners' Sun Souls began to glow. They all blinked and examined them in surprise as they realized what was happening… and then _they _began to glow as well, followed by Mario himself.

"What in the…" Mario muttered as his partners all rose several inches off the ground, floating as though they were suspended in water, looking completely astonished. A shining wind that was made of light wound its way around the group, glowing a pure yellow and giving off sparkles as it slowly spiraled up and up.

As Mario stared at the beautiful sight, he suddenly became aware of an incredible strength flooding into him… and from the looks on his partners' faces, they all felt it too.

_Mario's Star Power is now 8! With all his partners' help, he can now use the special move, Break of Day!_

"Oh, _wow!_" Stubba marveled as they all suddenly stopped glowing and lowered to the ground. "I feel so much stronger now! That's so _cool!_" He spun around and got a good look at himself.

"I feel stronger too," Dulia agreed, looking down at herself in awe. "What just _happened _to us?"

"That must be what Rodolfo was talking about," Mario realized. "He said we'd need _all _the Guardians… and the Master, I suppose… for you guys to gain your true power." He smiled. "And this must be it. Now we have the power to beat Shroude."

"Well, then, what are we chilling out here for, dudes?" said Ferdinand, flapping his arms eagerly. "We should get in there and bust some heads, right, man?"

Mario hesitated. "Well, yeah… I suppose we'd better…" Suddenly he realized exactly what they were about to do, and he felt a lump growing in his throat. He couldn't believe they had all come so far… and now here they were, at the very end… he knew he had to say something, but he had no words. What could he possibly say to express how much his friends had done for him during this adventure?

"…Guys, listen. All of you." He was shaking as he faced his partners. "I… I don't know what's going to happen over there, but I have to tell you right now… I… I couldn't have picked a better group of Guardians if I tried," he said earnestly, his voice heavy with emotion. "I… it's been such an honor being with all of you… I don't know how I could have…" he trailed off as his voice broke. "Oh, geez…"

"Allow me, partner," said Snatchel, patting him on the shoulder and turning to the others. "All right fellers, now listen up! This King Shroude's got it in his head that he can have his way with this here world, and there ain't nobody man enough to stop him! Well you know what I say to that? I say he ain't _never _dealt with the likes of us before! I ain't never worked with such fine fellers my whole life! So are we gonna stand back and let that old sidewinder do whatever he dang well pleases, or are we gonna give him the biggest beatdown he's ever had?"

"_YEAH!_" all the other partners cheered and threw their fists in the air, presumably agreeing with the second option. Mario just shook his head and grinned.

"Well, you all heard him. Let's get up there and do what we came here to do!"

"YEAH! Let's go!" Stubba cheered, leading the charge as he raced up the stairs and vanished through the veil without even hesitating. The others excitedly followed after him one by one, until finally the only ones who remained were Mario and Goomblaine. They briefly paused in front of the veil, remembering what had happened last time.

"…I don't know what's gonna happen once we're in there," the Goomba said quietly.

"Neither do I. None of us do. But whatever does happen…" Mario looked at him reassuringly. "We'll be together."

And they stepped through the veil, and then they were gone.

––––

**A/N: **…And that was _also _really short. Oh well, I guess that's how it is in the other games too.

(I'm excited. Are you guys excited? Because I'm excited.)


	51. Chapter 8, Part I

**Chapter 8:**

**To Unite Day and Night**

––

_**The Temple of the Sun**_

_**00:00**_

One by one, Mario and his partners stepped through to the other side of the purple veil. Mario and Goomblaine were the last of all, and as they reached the other side they quickly walked over and joined their friends, who were all standing in the middle of the room and staring up in awe at the sight before them.

"_Wooooooah_," Stubba said quietly, craning his neck as he looked up. "_Look _at this place. It's so pretty in here."

Mario glanced around. They were in the same room he and Goomblaine had been in before, the room with the Aeon Clock inlaid in the floor. As he looked at the golden walls and the windows shining with light, he remembered how awestruck he'd been in here before and felt that feeling start to creep back. This time, though, the room was empty; there were no Guardians to be found, which wasn't much of a surprise.

"…You know… it's weird," Hanner spoke up after a moment. "I mean, I've never been in here before, but it still feels… _familiar_, somehow. Like I'm home after being away for a long time."

"Actually, I feel the same way," Maizee admitted.

"Yeah! Me too!" Stubba agreed eagerly, rapidly nodding his head. "I bet it's 'cause we're Guardians, right Mario?"

"I'm sure it is," Mario said with a smile, then turned back to observe the room some more. "Well… there's nothing in here. What do we do now?"

"You know, dudes, this joint is a little, uh, smaller than I expected," said Ferdinand, looking around in confusion. "I was thinking the Guardians would have a radder hangout than this."

"Huh… actually, you have a point, Ferdinand," said Mario. "This can't really be the whole Temple, can it?"

Deciding he would have to think about this, Mario walked over to the Aeon Clock and sat down on it… only to yelp and flail his arms as part of it suddenly lurched out from underneath him and sent him collapsing to the floor.

"Uh, you okay Mario?" asked Goomblaine.

Mario was about to answer when he heard a loud clicking noise coming from the clock's inner mechanisms. Rubbing his back and sitting up, he watched in surprise with his partners as the two halves detached and rotated away from each other, revealing the staircase that Peach had taken so many times before.

"…Well, that answers that," said Hanner.

"Okay guys, I think we know what to do from here," said Mario as he stood back up. Without hesitating, they all formed a line and set off down the long staircase, taking care not to stumble or trip in the darkness.

As they reached the bottom, they stepped into the golden hallway with the green carpet, another sight which would have been familiar to Peach. They noticed the doors lining the walls on either side of them, but the one that really caught their attention was at the very end of the hallway, directly across from them. It was locked fast with a padlock that looked like it was solid gold.

"Just as I expected… this place is probably huge," Mario sighed. "It may take us a long time to find Peach… come on, guys, we'd better check all these doors."

So they split up and opened all the doors, but they all led to simple rooms. Inside the large room with the altar, though, they did find a few chests containing a Jammin' Jelly and a Shooting Star.

"We haven't found any way out of here, Mario," Dulia reported a few minutes later once they were all back together.

"Neither have we," Mario sighed. "I wonder what we're supposed to – WAAAUGH!"

He spun around, grabbing his shoulder as it was struck with a sudden searing pain. As he saw his attacker, he realized he'd just been burned by one of the bright green Phantom Embers who had been patrolling the hallway.

"Uh oh…" He and his partners suddenly realized they were surrounded by a whole group of them, rapidly circling around the heroes. The team found themselves nervously herded together in a circle, and Dulia let out a yelp as the Embers started spitting out flames at them.

"Hey, what do these fellers think they're doin'? We're the _good _guys!" Snatchel cried, frantically waving his hat at them and trying to keep them at bay.

"These things are Phantom Embers, one of the species who're supposed to be protecting the Temple. Like sentinels or something," Goomblaine announced as he used Tattle. "But since King Shroude took this place over, he's controlling everybody in here and making 'em do whatever he wants."

"What? Oh come on! But we're the Guardians!" Hanner cried as she tried to throw hammers at the invading flames, only to find they were circling around much too quickly for her to land a hit. "Doesn't what _we _want override what _he _wants?"

Maizee suddenly stepped forward impatiently. "I'm sorry, all of you, but we really don't have time for this," she said to the Phantom Embers before closing her eyes and belting out a powerful Showstopper. Mario and the other partners winced and covered their ears to protect themselves against the noise, but the Embers weren't so lucky; Maizee's attack was enough to knock them all out in one hit.

"…Wow. Nice work," Mario said to Maizee as the green flames all whimpered and died away.

"Aww, _yeah! _Ain't she the greatest?" Snatchel said with a lovestruck grin, grabbing her hands. She just rolled her eyes and tried not to blush.

Dulia didn't look so happy. "Ohhh, this isn't good… King Shroude is controlling all the things in here who are supposed to be _protecting _the Temple?" she said, fidgeting nervously. "And those Embers were just the start, weren't they? This isn't going to be easy…"

"Hey, don't sweat it, most cutest of dudettes," Ferdinand said reassuringly. "We're the Guardians, right? There's nothing in here too gnarly for us!" He flapped his arms for emphasis. "Oh, speaking of… check it out, Mario-dude."

"Huh?" Mario turned and was surprised to find a golden Temple Key lying on the ground. He realized one of the Phantom Embers must have dropped it after being defeated.

"Hah. Perfect! Now we have a way to get through this door," he said, picking it up and walking over to the door. "See, everyone? We're off to a good start already."

"If you say so, Mario," Dulia sighed.

After unlocking the door, the group saw that the next hallway consisted of three elevated platforms lying side to side with each other, rising up out of what appeared to be a bottomless pit (Mario didn't think too hard about how that was possible). Those platforms occasionally broke off before continuing on further down the room, and they were joined together in some places by shorter platforms running perpendicular to the main ones, making the whole thing look somewhat like a maze.

"Well, this won't be so hard. Just trial and error," Mario decided, setting off down the middle platform. Naturally, he was wrong.

"YEOWCH!" he cried out as an electric force field suddenly sprang up out of nowhere just as he walked into it. The impact sent him flying back to where he'd started, crashing in front of his partners and wincing in pain.

"Poor Mario… that's the third time you've gotten hurt already," Hanner sighed as he partners all looked down at him. "This just isn't your day, is it?"

"Good thing I'm used to this," Mario grumbled from on the floor.

Goomblaine picked up his phone. "Well, it says here this is part of the security that's s'posed to guard the Temple… it's kind of _magic _electricity," he said. "And it's motion-activated, so it turns on when you start walkin' up to it."

Hanner gave him a look. "Goomblaine, I've always wondered… how the _heck _does your phone have all that info in it already?"

Goomblaine just shrugged. "I don't think about it…"

"Well, fine. We just have to be extra careful where we walk, then," Mario sighed, standing up and straightening out his clothes.

So they set off very slowly down the middle platform (in single file since it was so narrow), coming to a stop as they felt the electric force field about to spring up. From there they turned to the left and continued down the left platform instead. If they went slowly enough, they managed to stop right in front of the force fields before they appeared and zapped them, and they crossed from platform to platform and gradually made their way across the room this way.

Unfortunately, there were Phantom Embers in this room as well.

"This is _ridiculous_," Mario muttered as he swung his hammer at the Embers floating around his head, teetering on the platform and trying not to fall off.

"Whoever decided on the defense for this place did a good job," Maizee wearily agreed.

Finally, they made it all the way across the room and entered the next one. This room was also quite long and narrow, and the door leading out was high up on a ledge. Between it and them was a bunch of floating platforms, some moving up and down, others side to side.

"Well, I wonder how we're going to do…" Mario abruptly fell silent as he suddenly saw a ball of dark energy flying right at him from out of the corner of his eye.

"_Oh no you don't!_" he shouted, spinning around and whacking it with his hammer and narrowly avoiding being sneak attacked for the third time in ten minutes. The whole group turned around and gasped as they saw they were being accosted by a group of four Magiblots. To Mario's surprise, though, two of them were white, not black like he was used to.

"Those're Dark Magiblots and Light Magiblots. Same stats, same moves, same everything… really the only difference is the kind of magic they use," Goomblaine announced. "Though it says here they're both weak to the other kind of magic."

"Oh, really?" said Dulia, suddenly growing a knowing smile. She rose up her arms and instantly transformed into a copy of the Light Magiblots, then proceeded to hurl a volley of pure white energy balls at the Dark Magiblots and completely obliterate them. Mario and Goomblaine ganged up on the remaining two and took them out with Power Smashes and Headbonks, though it took them a lot longer than Dulia.

"If we're going to have to fight _everything _in here, this is going to get old fast," Mario sighed once the fight was over. "All right, now how do we get up to that door?"

Snatchel was looking up at all the floating platforms moving around above their heads. "Well I _would _say we just go from platform to platform, but… I reckon they're too far apart to jump."

"Well hey, no problemo, brohams! That's where I come in!" Ferdinand cheered, looking ready for action.

Snatchel suddenly looked mortified. "Oh, just terrific…"

Maizee gave him a smirk. "You're not afraid of flying, are you sweetheart?"

"_N-no! _What the heck gave ya that idea?"

"Well, sorry guys, but I think Ferdinand's right. He's the only one who can get us across those things," said Mario. "We might as well get it over with."

So they jumped on the nearest platform as it reached the ground and rode it up, and from there Ferdinand had to fly them all across the room, timing himself perfectly as he reached each platform as it was moving in the direction they wanted to go. Hanner and Stubba were cheering throughout the whole thing, whereas Snatchel had to will himself not to look down. By the time they made it over to the door, he was looking green in the face and followed after the others much more slowly.

"All right, _now _what?" Mario sighed as they entered the next room, but not before hitting the Block in the air next to the door and claiming the Ultra Shroom that came flying out. "This puzzle looks even worse than the last one."

On the left side of the room was a short staircase that led up to a hallway, meaning there were two paths, one high and one low, leading across the room, each one ending at a different door. Unfortunately, the upper path was blocked off almost immediately by a large, dark-colored square block.

"Well, I _would _say we should take the lower path…" said Mario, noticing the large padlock over the lower door. "But the door's locked."

"Don't worry, Mario! I bet I can break that thing!" Stubba said confidently, walking up to the dark block and whacking it with his club.

Mario did a double take. "Wait – Stubba, I don't think you should – "

He was too late, though, as the block had already burst apart into pieces around Stubba, vanishing in a strange aura of dark energy. Stubba turned around and beamed at him.

"See, Mario? I told you!"

Mario sighed and smiled. "You're right. I should stop doubting you."

"Woah. Dudes, when that block broke, some other block just came out of nowhere," said Ferdinand, pointing at the lower path. Mario turned around and saw he was right; now there was a light colored block cutting off that pathway, though it was farther down than the dark block had been.

"Hmm…" Mario said thoughtfully. "Stubba, can you come break this one too?"

"You bet!" Stubba cheered, racing down the stairs and bashing the light block to pieces. Just as Mario had thought, this instantly caused the dark block to rematerialize up on the higher path, though this time it was farther down than the light one had been.

"All right, I guess we just have to go back and forth and break those things until we get all the way across," Mario decided, and he turned out to be right. Every time Stubba broke a block, the other one would reappear on the other hallway farther down than it had been before, so they slowly crossed the room by way of two different pathways. When they finally made it to the upper door, they opened it and found themselves in a tiny little anteroom that held nothing but a chest containing the Temple Key needed to unlock the lower door. So they backtracked down the upper path and then went down the lower one, unlocking the door and plowing on through.

The next room was just a regular old hallway, similar to the first one they'd been in, though this one was instead lined with glowing windows that, strangely enough, seemed to have ivy growing on their sills. There were more Phantom Embers floating around here too, but Mario was surprised to also find dark purple versions of the same enemy, which, according to Goomblaine, were Shadow Embers.

"More light and dark versions of the same thing…" he grumbled as he looked into his phone. "Don't ya hate it when video games get lazy and start pallet swappin' things?"

Everyone in the group gave him a long, awkward stare. "…_What _did you say?" asked Maizee.

"What does pallet swap mean?" asked Stubba.

Goomblaine shrugged. "I haven't broken the fourth wall yet… I thought it was time."

"Well, I guess it would make sense that there are an equal amount of light and dark enemies in this place," Mario decided. "This is where the balance between Night and Day is maintained, right?"

"But it won't be much longer if King Shroude has his way," Dulia sighed.

So they walked down the hallway, defeating all the enemies that got in their way; as Mario explained to his friends, they were weak to ice for some strange reason, meaning Ferdinand's Ice Block move worked miracles on them. It normally wasn't a strong move, since the Bumpty was more about speed than power, but as he generated large blocks of ice and batted them at the fiery enemies, it was enough to take them all out with little effort.

Then they reached the golden double doors that led to the next room and pushed them open…

…and as they walked through, they stopped dead in their tracks.

"Oh… my… goodness…" said Maizee.

"Woah," said Mario. "Now this… _now _I think I see why this place is so legendary."

It was only now that Mario and his partners realized how huge and magnificent the Temple of the Sun really was. The room they were in looked for all the world like an enormous palace ballroom. It was two stories high with a wide open, carpeted space in the middle of the room, and the floors were joined on either side of the room by two magnificent curving staircases, so huge that the top floor was at least thirty feet above their heads.

The top floor itself was really just a narrow walkway circling the periphery of the room, meaning the group could see all the way up to the ceiling, which was massive, vaulted, and, like the walls, pure white and covered in intricate gold designs. In contrast, the staircases were bright, shining gold. The floor and the stairs were still covered with the beautiful green carpet, which led off to one door on the opposite side of the room on the bottom floor and two other doors on the top floor.

Maybe Mario was imagining things, but the room itself seemed to be filled with a bright, warm glow.

"Sweeeeet," Ferdinand said quietly.

"It's gorgeous in here…" Dulia whispered.

Strangely enough, the first thought that occurred to Mario was how different this place was from the castles he usually had to go through just before a final fight. Those places were usually full of darkness and shadow, whereas the Temple of the Sun must have been one of the brightest and most brilliant places he'd ever been in… but then, it wasn't supposed to be a place of evil. King Shroude had only made it that way…

"Well, which way do we go first?" asked Hanner.

"_Not _to the top floor," said Goomblaine, gesturing over at one of the staircases. Mario looked and saw he was right; both staircases were cut off by an electric force field right at the bottom, the same kind they'd had to contend with in the previous hallway.

"Well, no doubt we'll have to get up there eventually," Maizee sighed, gazing up at the top floor and the ceiling beyond that. "But I suppose the only way to go now is forward."

"Maybe somewhere through that door is some way to shut off the electricity," Mario agreed, looking over at the door across the room from them. "Let's hurry and go, everyone… Peach is still waiting."

So they set off across the massive room, every one of them looking around in silent awe as they did so. Mario in particular was almost overcome by the sanctity of it all… after all, he realized vaguely, this temple must have been as old as time itself. He had no right to be in a place like this…

_And neither does Shroude, _he reminded himself. _There's no room for doubt anymore. It's time to put an end to this._

The group walked through the door, and the last leg of their journey continued.

––––

**A/N: **Incidentally, I have no idea how to write couples who are already together.

Like I said before, I really can't design dungeons, much less final dungeons, otherwise this would have been up much sooner. So this final chapter may be a bit of an ordeal…


	52. Chapter 8, Part II

_**The Temple of the Sun**_

_**00:00**_

The first thing the gang saw on the other side of the door was a long hallway that ended over at a short staircase leading down somewhere. The second thing they saw was a golden Bombshell Bill that was flying straight at them.

"_AAAAAUGH!_" Mario cried as the Bombshell Bill hit him right in the chest, exploding on impact and sending him crashing into the door behind them.

"Oh, great… not _these _again…"

"Uh oh… there's Bombshell Bill Blasters down at the end of the hallway," Dulia said nervously as Mario groaned and got to his feet. "I guess we have to beat them to keep going, huh?"

"That's how it always is," Mario sighed. Left with no other choice, the group carefully made their way down the hallway, maneuvering out of the path of the Bombshell Bills that would periodically come flying at them in pairs.

"All right, let's get rid of these stupid things!" Hanner cheered as they finally reached the pair of Blasters that had been firing at them from the end of the hallway. She eagerly whacked the nearer one with her hammer, only to deflate as she found she hadn't made a scratch. "Heyyyy, what gives?"

"These things have super high defense, Hanner. We'll have to lower it first if we want to get rid of them."

"Ah, okay. Well, that's where our lovely and talented Dulia comes in!" said Hanner, pushing the shocked-looking Duplighost forward.

"W-what? Oh… right, you got it." Everyone braced themselves as she floated into the air and unleashed her Howl on the Blasters. Mario wasn't exactly sure how it worked against inanimate objects, but work it did, and from there it only took a few good whacks to take them out of commission.

"All right, what's next?" Mario asked once they'd cleared the path.

"_Next _we get to do the same thing two more times," Goomblaine announced, looking less than thrilled. Everyone looked and realized the short staircase led down to an identical hallway with an additional set of Blasters firing in the opposite direction, and behind _them _was yet another staircase that led down to yet another hallway being bombarded by yet another duo of Blasters.

Everyone suddenly felt ready to collapse at the sight of it.

"Coming in here was _Mario's _idea," Hanner said accusingly, giving him a glare.

––

Though it took a while, they finally made their way down all three descending hallways and walked through the door waiting for them at the end. Though as Mario had expected, the next room wasn't much more welcoming. It was basically a very narrow hallway with a low ceiling… except it kept changing elevation.

"This certainly isn't the most efficient way to get through this place," Maizee sighed as they all stared at the sheer wall right in front of them. At the top, high above their heads, the hallway continued on.

"Shoot, this place is mighty cramped, ain't it?" Snatchel said distastefully. "What d'you reckon the Guardians even need with a place like this?"

"That's one of the many things in this world you just shouldn't think about. Unless you want to hurt your brain," Mario advised. Luckily, his Wall Jump was perfect for this room, and so he was able to leap back and forth between the two close-set walls and scale his way up to the higher-up hallway. Not so luckily, the only way to bring his partners with was to carry them up one at a time.

"Sorry, Mario. Are you okay?" Stubba asked worriedly as Mario lay panting on the landing with the rest of them.

"Don't worry, Stubba, it's not your guys' fault," he sighed, sitting up slowly. "Still, this would be a lot easier if I could just fit all you guys in my pocket somehow…"

"Well, maybe you could. We are paper, aren't we?" Dulia asked reasonably.

Ferdinand looked displeased. "Dude. The Bumpty Boarders are _not _meant to be folded up and put inside small places, man."

"Yeah, where's the fun in that? We should all be out _here_ so we can hang out together!" Hanner laughed. "That must be what you did with all your old partners, right Mario?"

"…You know, I think we should keep going."

As it turned out, the hallway kept rising and falling as they walked through. The group had to jump off the edge of the upper hallway as another wall led down to the lower portion, which in turn just led to _another _wall leading back up. This went on for quite a while, and by the time they were done with their walking, jumping and wall-scaling, the entire party's tempers were running short.

"This place is drivin' me nuts, and we're not even halfway through," Goomblaine griped as they entered the next room, voicing what everyone was thinking. "Okay, we got another maze in here, Mario. But from the looks of it, there's somethin' off about those walls."

"There are walls in here?" said Mario, looking confused. At first glance, they were simply standing in a replica of the previous hallway with the golden windows… but suddenly he realized Goomblaine was right. He could barely make out a bunch of walls creating a maze of sorts… _barely_, because they were largely transparent and obviously not solid. The only sign they existed was the faint rainbow of colors that comprised them, shimmering like bubble soap.

The only trouble was, there didn't seem to be a way to walk through the maze. There was nothing but dead ends in front of them.

"Hmm… well it's not much of a maze if we can just walk through the walls, now is it?" Mario remarked after surveying the scene for a while. He fearlessly stepped forward toward the nearest wall, intent on passing right through it… only to cry out in shock as an invisible force jolted through him and sent him flying backwards, skidding to the ground.

"Ow…" he groaned, lifting his head up. "Okay, check that…"

"Dude… these things are totally trippy, man," Ferdinand said in delight, experimentally poking the wall closest to him. "But how do we get through this place then?"

"Well, there's nothin' but dead ends now, so we gotta move the walls somehow." Goomblaine was looking at his phone. "All it says here is the walls aren't solid, so… we can't move 'em the traditional way. The only way to do it is with somethin' _else _not solid."

"Hmm… something like noise, maybe?" Maizee said with a thoughtful smile. She stepped forward and closed her eyes in concentration, singing an enchanting song. The ethereal wall in front of her started to writhe and shimmer at the noise, and before long she'd completely "disabled" it, causing it to vanish.

"Ha! All right! This'll be easier than I thought," Mario laughed as Maizee spun around and gave them all a wink. So they set off through the strange maze, with Maizee in the lead as she eliminated any dead ends that got in their way.

Beyond the door at the end was simply another short staircase continuing to lead lower into the Temple… but beyond _that _was something else entirely.

"…What a weird-looking room," Mario muttered as they all reached the bottom of the stairs and looked around at their location.

"Hey, it kinda looks like a clock in here, doesn't it Mario?" asked Stubba, turning around and around to get a good look at the room. He seemed to be right; it was shaped like a hexagon, and more importantly, there was a clock hand set into the floor, currently pointing north.

There were also three doors that each led off in a different direction, but only one was currently reachable; there was a short pathway extending from the floor that led up to it. The group was cut off from the other two doors by a large gap circling the floor.

"Hmm… I wonder what this room is for," Maizee said thoughtfully. "This temple certainly is a strange place, isn't it? So many things we still don't know."

Mario couldn't help but notice the decorations on the walls of this strange room. The walls were all warm colors, orange and yellow and gold, and were decorated by stylistic paintings of suns… but no moons, like Mario would have suspected in a place like this. That must carry some kind of meaning…

"Might as well have a look around," he finally decided. After walking through the only available door, they found it led only to a short hallway that contained a chest holding an Ultra Shroom, which was useful but didn't really help in the long run. There was a strange-looking pedestal in the middle of the hallway as well, but nobody could figure out what to do with it, so they headed back.

"We gotta get to those other doors somehow," said Goomblaine after they'd analyzed the room. "But the only way to do _that _would be moving that pathway… like, rotating it so it's facing another door. There's gotta be some way to do that."

Mario gave a smirk. "I might have an idea."

He walked up to the large clock hand set in the floor, rubbed his hands together, and gave it a shove. The effect was immediate; as Mario pushed the hand, it moved in a clockwise direction… along with the rest of the floor.

"WAAAAUGH!" the partners all cried as the floor spun underneath them, knocking them off their feet and sending them all collapsing to the ground.

"Huh?" Mario looked up and saw what he'd done. "Oops… sorry, guys."

Stubba suddenly sat up with a big smile, looking completely unfazed (unlike the others, who were still sprawled on the ground and groaning). "It's okay Mario! Look, you did it!" he cheered, racing over to the door that was clockwise from the one they'd just been though. The pathway had rotated along with the rest of the floor, and now it led up to the second door instead.

"All right! No puzzle is too much for _us!_" Hanner said happily as they all jumped up and followed after Stubba.

Goomblaine gave her a look. "Whaddaya mean 'us'? You didn't do nothin'."

"Just give me time…"

Beyond the second door was just another short hallway populated by a few Phantom and Shadow Embers, but the chest in _this _one contained another golden Temple Key.

"I have a feeling I know where this thing goes," said Mario as they returned to the clock room, noticing that the final door had a golden padlock on it. The plumber walked up to the clock hand and gave it another shove (the partners braced themselves this time), rotating the floor again and causing the pathway to shift position. Now it led right up to the locked door.

"I wonder why this door is locked… maybe there's something really important through here," Dulia said thoughtfully as Mario put the key in the lock, causing it to pop open and drop off the door.

"Well, this entire temple is _beyond _important," said Mario. "Unless King Shroude is through here… and I don't think he is…"

Curiously, he pushed the door open, and he and his partners slowly crowded through, gazing around warily at the room they had just entered. It was huge and wide open, and like the room they'd just left, the walls were colored brightly and had suns painted on them.

That, and there was also a giant phoenix standing in the middle of the room.

"YAAAAAAUGH!" shrieked Hanner, Stubba and Dulia.

"Holy stompin' Thwomps, what is _that?_" cried Snatchel.

Mario gasped and scrambled backwards, staring up in shock at the enormous bird who was gazing at them with narrowed eyes. She – Mario was certain she was female – was covered in brilliant red-and-gold plumage, creating the illusion that the edges of her massive wings were wreathed in flames. She let out an angry caw as she looked down at them, unfurling her wings to reveal that they shone like sunlight.

"Who goes there?" she demanded in a regal, authoritative voice. "Who are you that you would intrude upon the Temple of the Sun without permission?"

Mario was vaguely aware that his partners were all cowering behind him again. "Uh… would you believe, the Guardians of Day?" he asked feebly, his voice breaking.

"It's no use, Mario," Maizee said quietly. "No doubt King Shroude is controlling her as well. She can't be reasoned with."

"_Controlling _me?" the phoenix snarled, sounding highly offended. "That dark-skinned intruder may have powers too great for me to contend with, but _no one _controls me! I am Garudawn, one of the two great sentinels of this temple! And _you _are no Guardians that I have ever seen!"

Ferdinand frowned. "Hey, no need to get testy, dudette. Anyway, if you're so awesome, how come you didn't wail on that King Shroude dude as soon as he got in here?"

"She just said he was too strong for her, Ferdinand," Mario muttered.

Dulia stepped forward. "Garudawn, if you're not working for King Shroude, then you have to help us! We're trying to defeat him, but we need all the power we can get!"

Garudawn just gave a derisive snort. "A likely story! I don't believe for a moment that the likes of you are the true Guardians of Day! If you are who you say you are, you must prove yourselves!"

"Uh oh… I see where this is going," Hanner groaned.

Garudawn flapped her magnificent golden wings, rising into the air. "I shall test you. If you are able to defeat me in battle, then I shall recognize you as the true Guardians!"

And without a warning, she let out a shriek and dived out of the air. Everyone screamed and ran for cover.

"Great, just great, just great," Goomblaine swore frantically as he grabbed his phone and Tattled on their opponent. "Okay, it's Garudawn, the first one of the great sentinels. She's got some kinda wacked-out sun powers she can attack us with, and obviously we can't hurt her with ground attacks as long as she's up there. And don't let her swoop down on you either, 'cause trust me, it'll _hurt!_"

"Prepare to face my might!" Garudawn shouted, circling around and diving at the group again. This time they were ready. Hanner threw a well-timed hammer right at her head as she soared by, causing her to break off her attack mid-flight as she struggled to stay airborne. Mario took the opportunity to throw in a powerful Spin Jump right on her head, which was enough to send her crashing to the ground.

"Grr… you've made a mistake challenging me!" she threatened, giving Mario a painful broadside smack with one of her huge wings and sending him tumbling away. Before she had the chance to take to the air again, Stubba raced up and pounded on her with his Club attack, only for her to round on him impatiently and smack him away as well.

"Guys, be careful! Don't get too close or she'll just knock you back!" Dulia cried out, racing over to help Mario to his feet. Meanwhile Garudawn had risen back into the air and was circling over their heads, preparing another aerial attack.

"Hey! Come down from there!" Hanner shouted, throwing a volley of hammers before realizing her target was far too high up to reach… and was also aiming right for her.

"Uh oh… AAAAAAUGH!" she cried, trying to run away, but she wasn't nearly fast enough. Garudawn swooped out of the air and knocked into Hanner without even slowing down, flipping the Hammer Sis onto her back.

"Oh great… not this again," she moaned, frantically trying to flip over. "Uh, a little help please?"

Garudawn looked over her shoulder and cawed in triumph. Then she slowed down and made a U-turn, preparing to come swooping down a second time, only to be thrown off course as Dulia came flying at her with a Head Missile. She slammed into the phoenix, her impact so powerful that Garudawn was crashing into the wall with a shriek.

Dulia landed gracefully on the ground and stared at what she'd done. "Wow… I don't know my own strength," she said timidly.

Garudawn had slumped to the ground in a daze, but it didn't last long. "Hmph… very well. Allow me to demonstrate my true power!" she shouted, spreading her wings. Dozens of tiny shards of light suddenly materialized in front of her, briefly floating in midair before streaking off toward Mario's team. They only had time to gawk before they were all struck by several rounds of brilliant shards, each blow a sting of pain.

"Ack!" Mario cried as the force of the impact sent him and the others sliding backwards several feet. He shielded himself with his arms, grimacing against the multitude of blows but managing to stay on his feet.

"All right, time to get serious," he muttered. Before Garudawn could generate another attack, he raced forward and wound up his Ultra Hammer, smacking her right in the legs. She gasped as her knees gave out and she struggled to remain standing, and Goomblaine took the opportunity to knock her to the ground with a Headbonk.

"Enough of this!" she snarled, knocking the Goomba away with a snap of her wing before rising into the air again, out of their range. The partners weren't about to let her get away with that, however.

"You ready for this, little dude?" Ferdinand called down to Stubba as he rapidly flapped his arms, flying after the phoenix.

"You _bet!_" cheered Stubba, who was hanging onto the Bumpty's foot.

Garudawn was busy pelting the other hapless heroes with another round of sun shards when she noticed the two of them out of the corner of her eye. She turned to face them, only for her eyes to bulge in shock. "What in the – "

"_YEEEEEAAAAUUGHHH!_" Stubba and Ferdinand both let out deafening battle cries as they flew directly at her. She was so dumbfounded she didn't even think to move out of the way before they crashed into her, Ferdinand delivering a Beak Jab while Stubba swung his club at her with his free hand. Garudawn let out a cry as all three of them came crashing to the ground.

Mario had watched this whole thing in shock. "Guys! What did you just _do?_" he cried, racing up to them as his partners got to their feet.

"We combined our attacks, dude!" said Ferdinand. "I call them… _Dual Techs!_"

Mario stared at him while Goomblaine rolled his eyes. "Eh. It'll never catch on."

The group snapped back to attention as Garudawn let out another furious squawk, rising back into the air. She was looking badly beaten and disheveled by now, but still her eyes blazed with determination.

"I shall not be undone by the likes of you!" she declared, spreading her wings wide and unleashing her ultimate attack. "_Solar Flare!_"

All at once, an _enormous _beam of light came blasting down from the ceiling, crashing to the floor with the force of an explosion. It was so powerful that Mario and the others were all sent screaming and flying in different directions, skidding and tumbling across the green carpet.

"Urgh…" Mario groaned from where he lay on the ground, rubbing his eyes. That attack had been so bright that he was momentarily blinded… _that _wasn't good.

"And now to finish you!" came Garudawn's voice as she looked down at the heroes lying helplessly before her. She spread her wings again and prepared to deliver the final blow.

Gritting his teeth in pain, Snatchel managed to climb to his feet. "All right, time to see how strong this gal _really _is," he grumbled. He grabbed his lasso and hurled it at the huge phoenix, roping her right around the ankle. She'd been so distracted charging her attack that she didn't notice until it was too late, and she shrieked in surprise as Snatchel used Roundup and yanked right to the ground with a loud crash.

She lifted her head up with a look of fury. "You _fools! _You dare insult me this way?" she screeched, rapidly flapping her wings and thrashing violently about, causing the whole room to shake.

"…Uh, Mario? A little help over here?" Snatchel called nervously, straining to keep her pinned down.

"Right! Right! Got it!" Mario shouted as he and the others all charged forward and bum rushed the huge bird, ganging up and pummeling her as hard as they could. Most of the partners were knocked away by a sweep of her wings, but Mario managed to stay in the fray long enough to deliver one last Power Smash.

That was all it took. Reeling from his deciding blow, Garudawn let out one last defiant cry before she collapsed to the ground, weary and defeated.

Realizing they had won, Mario stepped back and took a deep breath. "Heh heh… well, that was fun."

"Speak for yourself," Goomblaine grumbled.

"Urgh… im… impossible…" Garudawn wheezed, slowly struggling to her feet. "And yet… no mere mortals could possibly defeat me… it must be so, then. You truly are the Guardians."

"Oh, come _on! _That's what we _said! _If you'd just listened to us we could have avoided all this!" Hanner shouted impatiently.

"Yeah, and he's the _Master _of Day! You better say you're sorry to him!" Stubba added as he pointed at Goomblaine, who looked very humiliated.

Mario covered his face. "Guys, you're not helping…"

Garudawn straightened up, trying to regain her composure. "So be it, then. If you are the Guardians, then I entrust you with the task of defeating King Shroude and restoring this temple to its rightful state. I shall lend you my power."

She spread her wings wide, and a bright glow suddenly appeared in front of her before floating down to Mario. Surprised, the plumber automatically reached out his hands as the glowing object fell into them, and as the glow died away, he saw he was holding onto a bright golden sphere.

"That is the Sun Orb. You will know what to do with it when the time is right," she said. "Now go. If you wish to defeat Shroude, you will have to contend with my brother as well."

Then she lifted up her shining wings, and in a blinding flash of sunlight, she vanished.

Everyone stood silently in the now-deserted room.

"…Uh… did she just say she's got a _brother?_" asked Snatchel.

––––

**A/N: **I was going to have both miniboss fights in this part, but that might be a bit much to digest.

I'm also gonna try _really _hard to put up these last few parts more quickly, since I want to finish the story before I go back to school.


	53. Chapter 8, Part III

**A/N: **I don't know what it is about Chuggaaconroy, but I cried like a baby at the end of SPM when I know that game backwards and forwards...

––––

_**The Temple of the Sun**_

_**00:00**_

After leaving Garudawn's chamber and returning to the clock room, Mario already thought he knew what to do with the Sun Orb.

"One of these other rooms had a pedestal in it, right?" he recalled. "And it looked like the perfect size to fit this thing..."

So after turning the clock hand and rotating the floor one more time, the group was able to head into the first hallway where the pedestal was waiting. Sure enough, it had a small indentation in the top that seemed like the perfect fit for the orb.

"All right, well, here we go," said Mario, taking out the Sun Orb and placing it on the pedestal, bracing himself for whatever was about to happen...

Except absolutely nothing happened.

"That was boring," Stubba pouted.

Mario blinked. "But I'm sure this is where it goes... what else are we supposed to do?"

"Oh, look here, Mario. There's a sign on the wall," said Dulia, pointing at something on the far wall that he hadn't noticed. Sure enough, there was a small plaque there that had what looked like ancient writing engraved in it.

"Hmm, what does that say?" Mario wondered, walking up and getting a look. "'With the Power of the Sun... The Sands of Time Will Flow.'"

He drew back. "What does _that _mean?"

"Well the part about the sun is obviously talkin' about this thing," said Goomblaine, nudging the Sun Orb. "So that must mean _somethin' _happens when you put it here."

"The sands of time..." Mario thought it over before pausing. "Wait a minute."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the Aeon Hourglass, staring at it. "But there's not even any Day or Night in this place... what would this possibly do?"

"Only one way to find out," Hanner said, looking eager.

Realizing his partners were all watching him expectantly, Mario gave an awkward shrug and turned the hourglass over. He wasn't expecting much, but as the sand fell through the glass the whole thing suddenly started to glow, and his eyes widened in surprise as a blinding flash lit up the room...

_**The Temple of the Sun**_

_**00:00**_

Mario blinked his eyes open and looked around cautiously. He didn't know what he was expecting to see, but at first glance it seemed like there was no change in the room.

"...Did that do anything?"

"I'm not sure..." Maizee admitted as the others looked around. "Well... wait a minute, Mario. Didn't you open this chest already?"

"Hmm?" Mario looked at where the chest had been sitting, and sure enough, it was no longer opened. Curious, he kicked it open and this time found a Jammin' Jelly waiting inside.

"Well, that has to mean _something_... we'd better have a look outside."

So after taking the Sun Orb back with them, figuring they'd need it again in the future, they opened the door and stepped back into the clock room... and stopped in surprise.

Whereas the room had been covered in warm colors before, now the walls were all colored dark blue with splashes of purple. Instead of suns adorning the room, now there were decorations of countless sparkling stars on the walls, with a few silvery crescent moons here and there.

"We _did _move," Mario said breathlessly. "At least... I think we did... what's going on here, anyway? How is it _this _room is affected by the hourglass?"

"I don't know, dude, but... I think we know where that chick's brother is now," Ferdinand said uneasily, pointing directly ahead. Just like in the sunlit version of the room, there were two other doors that could only be reached by rotating the pathway... and one of those doors had a bright silver padlock on it.

Mario swallowed hard. "Great... just great."

Reluctantly, he did the same thing he'd done the first time and turned the hand on the clock, rotating the pathway to the second door. Just like before, it led to a short hallway with a chest containing a Temple Key, though this one was silver rather than gold. They then returned to the main room and Mario turned the hand yet again, causing the pathway to lead right up to the locked door.

"I'm starting to get dizzy from all this spinning," Hanner groaned, leaning against a wall and clutching her stomach.

"And I _really _ain't in the mood to fight another one a' them things," Snatchel sighed resignedly. "Even though we're obviously gonna win."

Mario turned to him. "'Obviously'? You sound pretty confident..."

"Well shoot, we're awesome, ain't we?"

Mario shook his head. "Well if that's the case, we'd better hurry up and win," he decided, putting the Temple Key in the lock and unlocking the door. As he pushed the door open, his partners warily followed behind him as he stepped into the room beyond.

He was briefly taken aback by how gorgeous it was. The walls and the ceiling looked just like a real night sky, dotted with stars, creating the illusion that they were outside in a wide open space... but it was a bit hard to concentrate on that when there was a giant dark blue phoenix towering over them.

Stubba let out an "EEP!", unable to help himself, and Dulia whimpered "Oh no..."

"Who are _you?_" the large bird demanded, sounding every bit as peeved as his sister. "Who dares intrude upon the lair of Garudark, one of the great sentinels of this temple?"

Gazing up at him, Mario saw that _this _phoenix was just as large and beautiful as Garudawn, but his plumage was colored a vast deep blue. As he unfurled his wings, Mario saw that his feathers were laced with silver and covered in countless points of sparkling light, as though they contained a sky full of stars.

Even though he'd been expecting it, Mario still felt himself growing nervous. "Uh... actually, these are the Guardians of Day... we came here looking for you because... well actually, your sister sent us over here."

Unfortunately, that just served to make Garudark angrier. "Blasphemers!" he snarled. "How dare you claim yourselves to be the Guardians? How dare you taint my sister's name? I shall punish you for this insolence!"

Everyone groaned and braced themselves as he flapped into the air. "If you truly _are _the Guardians," he declared, "then you should be able to best me in combat! Now defend yourselves!"

He swooped out of the air, but this time the heroes were better prepared, and as they all quickly jumped out of the way Goomblaine pulled out his phone. "Okay, that's Garudark, the second one of the sentinels! He's pretty much the same as his sister, only difference being he's got lower attack and higher defense, so he's harder to take out. He's also got moon powers instead... I dunno what that's s'posed to mean, but whatever! Let's just waste this guy!"

Mario wasted no time doing just that, racing up to Garudark as he came swooping down again and busting out a Power Bounce right on his head. The dark phoenix let out an angry squawk and started shaking his head around, throwing Mario off before he'd done much damage.

"It will take more than that to do me in!" he sneered, attempting to give Mario a smack with his wing. Luckily Mario had learned from their last battle and quickly jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding the hit. While Garudark was distracted with the portly plumber, Hanner ran up from the left and started throwing hammers, striking the huge bird in the side... but it hardly seemed to do anything.

Garudark turned to glare at her. "You think to harm _me _with as feeble an attack as _that?_" he sneered, immediately lifting off and zooming at her. Hanner had just enough time to grow very pale before screaming and running out of the way.

Mario started growing discouraged. "Great... this guy's awfully resilient, isn't he?" he muttered. "Ferdinand, I think that's your cue."

"You can count on me, man!" the Bumpty cheered, springing into action. He flapped into the air after Garudark, pelting him with a bunch of rapid-fire Beak Jabs while the dark phoenix was distracted with picking off the other partners. He shrieked in pain from Ferdinand's sudden attack, spinning around and sending his assailant flying across the room with one swipe of his wing.

"It's time to put you whelps in your place!" he shouted, generating a countless number of sparkling moon shards that streaked off and pelted Mario's team. As before, all they could do was wince and defend themselves against the blows. The attack wasn't as strong as his sister's, but it was still enough to slow them down.

"All right, you done with that yet? Then let's get down to business!" Snatchel said once the attack had slowed, racing up and bowling right into the giant bird. Garudark let out a cry as the attack sent him flopping over onto his back... but not for long. Before Snatchel could get out of the way, Garudark suddenly lashed out and pinned him to the floor under his huge foot.

"You will pay for your foolhardiness!"

Maizee suddenly looked furious. "Just _what do you think you're doing?_" she shouted at Garudark, running up and blowing an enormous Pollen Storm cloud right in his face. He let out a strangled squawk as the sickly-looking pollen instantly inflicted him with confusion, causing him to start staggering around the room and release his hold on Snatchel.

He sat up and looked sheepish. "Phew. Uh... thanks for that."

Maizee smiled cheerfully. "I was just returning the favor..."

"GUYS! Stop flirting and get over here!" Hanner shouted. The two of them snapped to attention and raced over to where the others had cornered Garudark. Goomblaine drove him into the floor with a merciless Multibonk, and then Stubba tried to wail on him with his club, but the phoenix's defense was high enough that his attack couldn't do a thing.

"Oh, no..." the little Clubba moaned.

"Just leave it to me!" said Dulia, letting loose an earsplitting Howl against Garudark. He shrieked and flapped his wings as the noise forced his defense down... unfortunately, it also snapped him out of his confusion.

"That was a mistake, I fear," he growled as he glared down at Dulia, who grew a very frightened look and started shaking... but before he could do a thing to her, Stubba came out of nowhere and whacked him with his club, briefly taking him out of commission.

"Tee hee! This is really fun," Stubba giggled.

Garudark quickly straightened up and glared at the entire party. "That does it! You've pushed me this far... now suffer the consequences!" Before the group could stop him, he opened up his wings. "_Lunar Burst!_"

"Oh no... AAAAAAUGH!" Hanner screamed as she and everyone else panicked and ran away, knowing what was coming. In an instant, a huge, blinding beam of moonlight came crashing down to the ground, so powerful that it shook the whole room and threw the entire fleeing party off their feet.

Thankfully no one was directly hit, but it still left them all sprawled on the ground in a daze.

"Ugh... all right, this guy wants to fight with pizzazz. Well, he's not the only one who can do that," Mario muttered as he got to his feet. "Are you ready, Dulia?"

"Of course I'm ready!" Dulia said determinedly, racing loyally up to Mario. Garudark just stared at them as they grabbed hands, not understanding what was happening until it was too late.

"_Fire Away!_"

Garudark let out a cry of shock as dozens of flames suddenly burst into life around the two of them, circling around them faster and faster before finally shooting off and slamming into the huge bird. He screamed as the flames engulfed his body, frantically flapping his wings before his strength finally gave out and he collapsed to the ground with a loud crash.

"...Remind me why we don't do that more often?" said Snatchel.

Dulia sighed in relief. "That was _too _close."

As the flames flickered and died, Garudark wearily lifted his head up and gave them all a scrutinizing look. "So it's true, then," he groaned. "My sister was right about you... you are the Guardians."

"Told you, man," said Ferdinand, shaking his head.

"Very well, then," said Garudark, standing up and ruffling his feathers. "Since you have proven yourselves, I will follow my sister's example and lend you my power... but I expect you to roust that blasphemer King Shroude with all of your might."

Hanner gave a salute. "You got it! That's our job, after all."

Just like before, Garudark opened up his wings and caused a glowing sphere of light to materialize in front of him. As it floated over, Mario opened up his hands and caught it, and the glow died away to reveal the object was a bright silver.

"That is the Moon Orb. When the time comes, use it together with the Sun Orb." He stood back and unfurled his wings. "Now make haste. The fate of our world rests on all of you."

There was a bright flash of moonlight, and as it faded, they saw that Garudark was gone as well.

––

The moment Mario's team stepped back into the clock room, they all skidded to a stop in surprise.

"What in the – all right, that was not there before."

They had reached a dead end with the clock room, and so had resigned themselves to backtracking all the way through the Temple... but fate apparently had other plans. As soon as they had stepped outside, a bright glow began to fill the room, and as the team stopped and stared in awe, it gradually coalesced to form a wide staircase leading up and up. It seemed to be made out of pure golden light.

"Woah! Can we go up that thing, Mario?" Stubba asked eagerly.

"I have a feeling we're supposed to," said Mario. He craned his head up, but he couldn't see where the staircase led. "At least, I hope we are..."

They all raced up the staircase, surprised to find that the glowing steps were perfectly solid. As they went, the room vanished underneath them and they found themselves ascending through darkness... until they reached the very top.

"Wait... we're back _here?_" cried Hanner, looking confused. As she and the others arrived at the top of the stairs, they were surprised to find themselves back in the massive two-storied room, right in the middle of the floor. They had just come walking up through a hole in the floor that hadn't been there before.

"But there were no stairs here before! Where did they – "

Before Hanner could even finish, the floor that had been covering the stairs during their first visit magically rematerialized, appearing and solidifying out of thin air. Within seconds there was only green carpet, with no sign of the stairs underneath.

"Okay, forget it, I don't even care anymore."

"_Magic_, remember?" Mario jokingly reminded Hanner. "All right, well since we're back here... I suppose the only thing left to do is go up those staircases. But the force fields are still on."

"I take it you didn't notice the pedestals over there?" asked Goomblaine, gesturing over toward the staircases. Mario looked and realized that next to both of them there was indeed a short pedestal... and it just so happened that both of them had orb-shaped indentations.

"...Aha. Well, no prizes for guessing what we do next."

Mario walked over and placed the Sun Orb on the pedestal to the left, then put the Moon Orb on the one to the right. He immediately got a reaction once he did; both orbs began to glow, which in turn caused the faint glow that already filled the room to become brighter. There also seemed to be a low humming sound coming from all around them. The room was responding to the power of Garudawn and Garudark; only with their permission could the upper floor of the Temple be reached.

The force fields covering the two massive staircases flickered and grew weak, and then finally vanished.

Mario grinned. "All right! Let's hurry on up there!"

The party ventured up the staircase on the left, though they ended up going at a walking pace, still gazing around in reverence at the beautiful room they were in. Once they finally reached the top, they were even closer to the huge vaulted ceiling and couldn't help but take a moment to stare up at that as well.

"Well, all right, there's two doors up on this floor. Where to first?" said Mario.

"I believe that's been answered for us," said Maizee, pointing over at the door on the right, which was bolted shut with a padlock.

"Oh, come _on_," the plumber groaned. "All right, fine... left door it is, then."

The first thing behind that door was another long, plain hallway with no apparent obstacles, but the team was surprised to find new enemies prowling about. There were two varieties of them; one kind resembled an ornate sun, the other a crescent moon, but they both had somewhat cartoonish faces and hovered a few inches off the ground as they traveled back and forth.

"...What are _those _things?" Dulia asked, confounded at the sight of them.

"They're called Mini-Suns and Mini-Moons. Yeah, try guessin' which one is which," said Goomblaine as he looked at his phone. "They've got super-high stamina and they can even heal themselves when their health gets low... but just like those Magiblots, they're weak to each other."

"Well, all right then," Mario sighed, preparing to face off against these stronger-than-normal enemies. The Mini-Suns and Mini-Moons attacked by firing small bursts of solar or lunar energy, and so Dulia used the same strategy she had before and turned into a Mini-Sun, taking out most of the Mini-Moons in the process. The others had to take care of the remaining enemies, but they were extremely resilient, withstanding the team's blows and wearing them down very quickly.

"We really don't have time for this," Mario groaned, deciding to wrap things up quickly. He pulled out one of his Shooting Stars and held it over his head, summoning an entire shower of stars to come soaring down and crash into the enemies.

"Oooooooooooh," several partners said at the sight. Mario sighed in relief as the attack took out all the Mini-Suns and Mini-Moons... or almost all of them.

"Oh no! ACK!" cried Hanner, finding herself trapped between a Mini-Sun and Mini-Moon. They both fired bursts of energy at her at once, and not knowing what else to do, she ducked out of the way. Both of her attackers' eyes bulged as they were each struck with the other's attack, immediately taking them out.

Hanner cautiously opened her eyes and realized what had happened. "...Ha! My brilliant plan worked!"

Everyone else just groaned and shook their heads. "Nice try, dudette," said Ferdinand as they all set off without Hanner, leaving her standing where she was and pouting after them.

As they entered the next room, they found themselves standing on top of one of three tall platforms rising up out of the floor. The only way to reach the next door was by crossing over the platforms somehow, but they were far too far apart to jump, even for Ferdinand.

"Well, how do we get across _this?_" Mario wondered.

"I'm gonna guess it's got somethin' to do with these blocks over here," said Goomblaine, gesturing over at six blocks floating in the air to their right. Some of them were yellow and had the image of a sun on them, while others were blue and had a moon on them instead.

"All right! Hitting blocks! That's where I'm a pro," Mario said with a chuckle. "I'll bet we just have to make it so they're all suns or something."

He jumped up and hit one of the moon blocks, and just like he'd thought, it immediately turned into a sun block... but the two adjacent blocks changed as well. They'd both been sun blocks, but now they were moon blocks.

Mario stared at them and deflated. "Things just can't ever be easy, can they?"

Nonetheless, after a little trial and error he'd finally solved the puzzle. Whenever he hit a block it would cause whatever blocks were next to it to swap patterns as well, but eventually he'd hit them all in such a way that all of them became sun blocks. And just like that, there then came a brilliant glow from the edge of the platform that transformed into a floating yellow pathway leading to the next platform.

"That really is something. Just like that golden staircase that led us up to the main floor. I'd certainly like to know where they come from," Maizee said thoughtfully. "Do they actually harness the power of the sun? Or is it some form of the Guardians' magic that – "

She looked and saw all the others had raced across without her. "...Or we can just not think about it," she sighed, following after them.

On the second platform, Mario had to repeat the same puzzle with a second set of blocks, this time transforming them all into moon blocks. The glowing pathway that appeared after that led them over to the door, and they all hurried into the next room.

"Oh great, another bottomless pit," Goomblaine grumbled as they entered. There was indeed what looked like a bottomless drop between them and the chest on the other side of the room, but spanning it was what looked like a twisting maze of pipes. These pipes were actually meant to hold up a small platform that was waiting for them on their side of the room.

"Ah, okay. I bet we just have to ride this thing across the room," Mario decided as they all stepped onto the platform. "...So, how do we start this thing?"

"Oh, maybe we have to hit that switch over there?" said Stubba, pointing at the blue "!" switch to the side of the entrance. "Except how do we do that? If we go over there and hit it then it'll start without us..."

"All _right! _It's Hanner's turn to shine!" Hanner cheered, drawing back her arm and throwing her hammer over at the switch, hitting it dead on. Just like that, the platform underneath them gave a lurch and began to travel across the pit, following the path of the twisting pipelines. They actually wound up at a dead end a few times, but after figuring out how to steer the thing, they finally got it to lead them over to the chest on the far side of the room.

"All right, perfect!" Mario said happily as he opened it and held up the Temple Key waiting inside. "This must be the key that'll open the last door back in the great big room."

Suddenly Ferdinand grew a gravely serious look on his face. "Uh oh... you know what this means, dudes... _backtracking_."

As soon as he spoke the word, there came a dramatic crash of thunder from somewhere that made the entire group jump and look around in confusion.

"...What just happened?" asked Dulia.

With the key in hand, the (rather disgruntled) group went back through the last few rooms before finally arriving back at the large room where the orbs were resting. This time they approached the door on the upper right, and as Mario unlocked it and pushed it open, they entered a new area of the Temple.

They were drawing ever closer to Peach... but only time would tell if they were ready for what was waiting for them...

––––

**A/N: **Okay only one more boring dungeon crawly part and then I promise the good stuff starts!


	54. Chapter 8, Part IV

**A/N: **I could've probably made this chapter one part shorter so it didn't drag on, but I am pretending like this is a real game and I wanted a decent sized final dungeon. It's still way shorter than Bowser's Castle.

––––

_**The Temple of the Sun**_

_**00:00**_

The group was irritated to find yet another hallway full of Mini-Suns and Mini-Moons just beyond the door, identical to the previous one. Judging by the way the strange enemies were patrolling back and forth, there was no way to sneak past all of them.

"Ugh... not more of these things," Mario groaned. "We _really _don't have time to fight them all off again..."

"You're right, dude... so I say we take another option!" said Ferdinand as he stepped forward. Mario and the others watched in surprise as he suddenly jumped into the air and started crazily flapping his arms, and just like that, he summoned an enormous Tsunami from out of nowhere. It surged up underneath him, and he cheered as he rode it straight toward the enemies and it came crashing down on them, sweeping every last one of them out of the fight.

When it was over, he found himself standing in the middle of the dripping-wet hallway with the others all staring at him. "Heh heh... hope this carpet is waterproof, man," he said sheepishly.

The only one who didn't look completely awed was Snatchel. "Now hang on a minute! Why the heck didn't ya just do that the _first _time?" he demanded, looking exasperated yet again.

Ferdinand just shrugged unconcernedly. "Well hey man, it'd be way cheap if I just did that every time, now wouldn't it?"

"Hey Mario..." Hanner cut in before Snatchel could say anything else, "is it just me, or is the glow around here getting brighter?"

"Hmm?" Mario paused and suddenly realized she was right. All the rooms they'd been in so far had at least a faint golden glow to them, but in this part of the Temple, he noticed that the glow seemed to be getting gradually brighter the farther along they went. Not only that, but there seemed to be a faint feeling of power in the air... and the farther they went, the stronger it became.

"You're right, Hanner... that can only mean one thing. We're getting close."

With that in mind, the group found themselves growing in anticipation as they opened the door and entered the next room... but they weren't too happy at what they found.

"Hang on... haven't we already done this puzzle?" said Mario. Sure enough, the room they were currently in appeared to be an exact replica of the previous room that had contained the warping block puzzle. Just like before, there was an upper and lower pathway, and the upper one was cut off by a dark-colored block.

"Do I have to break it again, Mario?" asked Stubba.

"I don't think so... this block looks different from before. I don't think we can break it."

Mario walked up the stairs and examined the block curiously. Finally he gave it an experimental push and was surprised to find it gave easily. Deciding to roll with it, he kept pushing it down the hallway until he suddenly noticed a glowing tile on the floor near the door.

"Huh... what happens if I..."

He pushed the block onto the tile, and suddenly it vanished into thin air.

"Woah! What just – "

"It's down here, Mario!" came Dulia's voice from below him. "We don't know what you did up there, but you moved the block down here somehow!"

"Huh?" Mario peered over the railing and saw that there was now a light-colored block down in the lower hallway, right next to the door.

"Huh. Well, that was simple enough..."

He walked through the now-open door on the top floor, and just like before, found only a small room with a chest containing a Temple Key. Now the group had to get through the door on the lower level, but the block was in the way.

"Well, great. How do we move it back up there?" asked Goomblaine.

"Well, there's another glowing tile back there," said Mario, looking back at the very beginning of the lower hallway. "I'll just have to get it back there somehow... except there's not enough room for me to get behind it and push..."

He suddenly grew a not amused look. "I'll just have to _pull _it."

After spending several minutes struggling and grumbling loudly to himself, Mario finally managed to pull the large block onto the second glowing tile, warping it back up to the upper floor and allowing the group to progress through the door on the bottom.

The next room was a very strange one indeed. There were more Mini-Suns and Mini-Moons floating around, which irritated the group, but more notable was that the floor seemed to resemble a checkerboard, laid out in a grid of square tiles. On one of these tiles was a metal statue of a Mini-Sun with glowing red eyes, and on another one further across the room was a similar statue of a Mini-Moon.

"Whaddaya reckon them statue things are for?" asked Snatchel, scratching his head.

"I dunno... but I don't like 'em. They're really creepy looking," Hanner said with a light shudder.

"Well, we just won't bother with them then," Mario decided as he set off across the room... but just as he was about to walk past the first statue, it came zooming sideways and jerked to a stop right in front of him.

"WAAAUGH!" Mario cried in shock, flailing his arms and falling over backwards.

"Mario? Are you okay? What just happened?" Dulia cried as the others came running up.

"Uh, that statue thing just moved all by itself, that's what happened," Ferdinand said uneasily. "That's... just not right, man."

Mario glared up at the statue as he stood up, never taking his eyes off it. He tried to walk around it, but whenever he moved, the statue mimicked his movement and shifted in front of him again, making it impossible for him to go any further.

"It won't let us go through!" he complained. "What do we do now?"

"Oh Mario, there's something written down here!" said Stubba, who happened to be near eye level with the lower portion of the statue, a pedestal that the Mini-Sun was resting on. He crouched down and slowly tried to read what was written there. "'As Day...' uh... what's that word, Mario?"

Mario got down next to him. "'As Day spurns Night and Night spurns Day, only its self may pass this way.'" He groaned. "Ugh, more rhyming puzzles. Well, what do you suppose that means?"

"It sounds like this statue will only let _itself _pass through here... hmm..." Dulia looked thoughtful, and then her eyes lit up. "I got it!"

She grabbed a shocked Mario by the wrist and pulled him over to where one of the Mini-Suns was floating around. Before it could attack them, she closed her eyes in deep concentration and put a hand on Mario.

"Dulia, what are you – "

"I'm making you like that statue!" she said as Mario's body suddenly started tingling all over. The next thing he knew, he was enveloped by purple smoke and he'd been transformed into a Mini-Sun.

"Ugh... this is _not _comfortable at all," Mario sighed as he tried to look down at himself. "But... I think I see what you mean, Dulia... this might just work!"

"Heh heh... looking good, Mario," Hanner joked as he floated back over to the statue. As soon as it saw Mario, it suddenly made a noise like a machine powering down and its eyes went dark.

"Hah... you _were _right, Dulia!" Mario cheered as he turned back to normal and they all raced around the inert statue. "Of course, now we have to do that again..."

So Dulia next turned Mario into a copy of one of the Mini-Moons, and they did the same thing to the second statue, causing it to shut down like the first before they all raced out of the room.

"We're getting _really _close now... I can feel it..." Dulia said nervously. And Mario had a feeling she was right; the tension was just getting stronger and stronger. The room they were in now was similar to the version of the clock room that lead to Garudawn; there were only sun decorations on the walls, which gave Mario an inkling of what they'd have to do next. There were three platforms rising out of a bottomless pit that led over to the next door, and they were bridged by more of the glowing light-pathways.

"Well, we can't just go over to that door. It's locked again," Maizee sighed. "So there must be a key hidden in here somewhere, but where?"

Goomblaine had the answer. "There's a doorway right over there," he said, gesturing at the left wall halfway across the room. Sure enough, there was a doorway there they could reach from the middle platform.

"All right, let's head over there," Mario said as he prepared to step onto the glowing walkway... but just as he did, the whole thing vanished from underneath him, leaving him to step out onto thin air. He cried out and started flailing, and Hanner and Stubba gasped and scrambled over to him, grabbing him by either arm and pulling him back onto the platform before he could go falling off.

"Be careful, Mario!" Stubba cried.

"Phew... thanks, guys," Mario sighed, looking out as the walkway suddenly reappeared. "...I guess that thing appears and disappears at an interval. We have to make it all the way across before it fades away."

So the next time the pathway reappeared, everyone raced across it to the middle platform as fast as they could, barely making it before it vanished behind them. From there they walked through the doorway on the left into an adjacent room, but all they found was a short stairway up to another platform cut off by a huge metal block, along with two gold-colored Chain Chomps on either side of the room.

"Those things're called Golden Chomps. Yeah, real original," said Goomblaine as he Tattled on them. "Like you probably guessed, they're stronger than regular Chain Chomps."

"Y'know, gold is one of the softest metals there are. Why would a golden version of an enemy be _stronger?_" asked Hanner, looking confused.

Goomblaine just glared at her. "You wanna take over this job?"

Whatever the case, the party took care of both Golden Chomps in quick succession, and as soon as they did, a bright glow came from the top of the staircase as a chest magically materialized.

"Well, that's fine and dandy, but how do we get up there with that dang ol' block in the way?" asked Snatchel.

Mario grinned. "Oh, come on. This is no problem for Super Mario!" he said, walking up to the metal block and smashing it with one good wound-up strike from his Ultra Hammer. Then he raced up the stairs and opened the chest, finding a Badge inside of it.

"Heh heh... check it out, everybody. Looks like this is our _Lucky Day!_" he joked, holding up the Badge for his partners. Unfortunately for him, they all just groaned at his attempt at humor.

"I'm sorry Mario, but that wasn't even a pun, that was just lazy," Dulia sighed, shaking her head.

Mario frowned. "Well, fine then..."

"Anyway, what we're _lookin' _for is a key, and we don't got one of those yet," Goomblaine reminded him.

"Hey, look over here!" came Stubba's voice, and everyone turned to find him gazing at a crack in the right wall. "Ooh, I know what to do _here!_"

He eagerly wound up his club and bashed the wall, causing a huge hole to open up that seemed to lead to another room.

"Good job, Stubba! I would've missed that completely," said Mario as they all walked into the newly-revealed room. It actually looked exactly the same as the last one, with another metal block in front of a short staircase, although the enemies in this room were more Light and Dark Magiblots. At any rate, once the party took care of them, another chest appeared at the top of the stairs, and inside _this _one was a Silver Key.

"Sweet! That'll get us out of here for sure, man!" Ferdinand cheered.

But Mario found himself frowning unsurely as he held the key, remembering the room they had come from. "I hope it does... but I'm not quite sure..."

Back in the main hallway, the group raced across the second glowing path before it disappeared, heading right up to the padlocked door. But as Mario tried to fit the key in the lock, his heart sank as he realized his suspicions were confirmed. The key didn't fit.

"What? Come on! That's the only key we could find!" Hanner complained. "What else are we supposed to do?"

"I've got a pretty good idea," said Mario, turning to look back over at the shining golden walls. "This place looks just like the room before we fought Garudawn, doesn't it? It's so bright and sunny..."

He pulled out the Aeon Hourglass. "So there must be another one."

He flipped the hourglass over, and everyone vanished.

_**––**_

_**The Temple of the Sun**_

_**00:00**_

As they emerged in the new room, they saw that _this _version of it looked just like the room before Garudark. The walls in here were dark blue and covered with stars, and although the door directly in front of them was still locked, the padlock here was silver, not gold.

"Perfect," Mario said with a smile, fitting the Silver Key into the silver padlock and opening the door. Beyond it was only a tiny anteroom with a single chest, but inside of it was a Golden Key, which could only have one possible use.

"I still don't really understand how the hourglass can possibly work in a place where there is no time... but I suppose that's something else to worry about another day," said Maizee as they returned to the main hallway.

"Yeah, once we're not racing to save the whole world, I'd really like to know more about this place," Dulia agreed with an eager nod.

"Unfortunately, I would be _very _hard-pressed to find a time like that," Mario sighed as he pulled out the hourglass again. "In fact, at this point, if I weren't constantly saving the world, I'd have no idea what to do with myself."

"Just wonderin', partner, but how exactly does a _plumber _get roped into bein' the constant savior of the world and all that?" Snatchel asked curiously.

Mario rolled his eyes. "Your guess is as good as mine."

He turned the hourglass over again, and they were engulfed in yet another flash.

_**––**_

_**The Temple of the Sun**_

_**00:00**_

Back in the bright version of the hallway, Mario instantly unlocked the golden padlock in front of them with the Golden Key and led the group into the next room. By now they were growing exasperated; the room was impossibly huge, the puzzles looked the most complex of all, and they were all certain that they were now right at King Shroude's doorstep.

This gauntlet of a final room looked largely the same as the last one, except now there were four main platforms leading across the room instead of three. Like before, the second one had a doorway on the left wall that led to another room. _Un_like before, there were now Mini-Sun and Mini-Moon enemies floating around to cause even more trouble.

Worst of all, this time there weren't even any pathways connecting the platforms. They were stranded on their side of the room.

"Well, _now _whaddawe do?" Goomblaine griped. "We got no way across the room this time."

"Calm down, guys," said Mario, who was looking intently out at the room. "There has to be _some _way over there. We just don't see it..."

Suddenly he paused and grew a strange look, echoing his last words. "We don't _see_ it..."

Ever so slowly, he lifted his foot out over the edge of the platform and put it down... and it landed on something solid as a glowing square of light suddenly appeared underneath it.

"Aha!" he cheered, stepping onto the glowing square. "I knew it! There _is _a pathway here! It's just invisible."

"Invisible?" Hanner said with a gulp.

"But how do we go across it if we can't _see _it?" asked Stubba.

"...Very, very carefully," Mario decided.

So the party very cautiously edged out in single file across the walkway. Mario led the way, always very carefully looking for the next section of the path by sticking his foot out. Whenever he found it, another glowing square would appear under his foot and he'd step onto it. Unfortunately the path wasn't straight and ended up zigzagging back and forth numerous times before they finally made it all the way across.

On the second platform, they walked through the doorway to the left and found themselves in a largely empty room. After eliminating the Golden Chomp enemies, they saw that there was a staircase in the corner that seemingly led up to nothing. Apart from that, the only noteworthy thing was that the ground floor had for large tiles all lined up in a row.

"What's up with these things, I wonder?" said Mario as he walked up to the tiles, looking down at them. To his surprise, each one of them had a number inscribed in them. From left to right, they were numbered 2, 4, 3, 1.

He frowned. "Really? _That's _the best they could come up with?"

He finally shrugged resignedly, walked underneath the tile marked "1" and performed a Spin Jump, slamming down onto it with all his might. As soon as he did, it lit up underneath him and started to glow. He walked over and did the same thing with the other three, Spin Jumping on them in numerical order, and they all began to glow as well.

As soon as he'd lit up the last one, he and his partners all gasped as a narrow walkway suddenly came unfolding from the wall above their heads like the paper it was. They could reach the walkway from the stairs in the corner, and as they raced up the stairs and across the path Mario saw there was yet another Temple Key up there... only trouble was, the ceiling suddenly dropped down right in front of it and prevented them from being able to reach it.

"We can't exactly squeeze under there," Mario griped, examining the wall that came down from the ceiling and stopped just a few feet above the walkway.

"Maybe we can't, but I know somethin' that can!" Snatchel declared, looking eager to spring into action. He grabbed his lariat and threw it under the wall, grabbing the key and yanking it back with no trouble at all.

Back in the main hallway, they crossed over to the third platform via another disappearing pathway, scrambling across it in a big hurry, and then made it over to the door by having Ferdinand carry them across a group of smaller, hovering platforms. Knowing they were about to face something big, Mario took a deep breath before unlocking the door and leading them all into the next room.

As it turned out, there was nothing in there. It was a pretty small, circular room with the same elegant decorations on the walls that were in the rest of the Temple. The group looked around warily, but they seemed to be alone.

But they weren't alone for long.

"So, you finally made it, Mario. We were getting impatient."

"Oh no..." Mario groaned at the sound of the voice. He and the others all stepped backwards as three very familiar clouds of smoke suddenly rose out of the floor and three very familiar Darkstriders came stepping out.

"Hmph. Long time no see, you guys," Hanner grumbled.

"Well, Mario, our lord is quite impressed that you've all made it this far," Jaff said casually, dusting himself off and standing directly between them and the door. "But he's also told us to make sure you all never get past this room. I'm afraid your little adventure is now over."

The entire party was glaring at them, and Goomblaine gave them a contemptuous scoff. "You freaks _stupid _or somethin'? We made it all the way through this place and you think _you're _gonna slow us down?"

"If I were you, I'd retreat right now and save yourselves a beating," Maizee said in a very serious voice.

"Sounds like a smart idea to me," Mario agreed, pulling out his hammer.

Jaff just gave a low chuckle in response, shaking his head. "Oh, Mario... I expected you and your little team would be smarter than that by now. We may have had trouble against you in the past, but do you honestly think our lord would send us out here without... leveling the playing field?"

And without any warning, he generated a huge ball of shadow in his hands and hurled it at Mario. The plumber's eyes bulged, but he was too late to move before it slammed into him, sending him flying across the room.

"_Mario!_" came several panicked cries.

Mario crashed onto the floor, wincing in pain and with his clothing singed and smoking. He struggled to lift his head up and stared at Jaff. "What... what was _that?_"

"Our lord was kind enough to give us a share of his power for this fight, that's what," the Darkstrider cackled. "He _really _wants you out of the way, doesn't he? You should consider it an honor that he's devoted so much to destroying you."

"This won't be like last time! You punks are going down! We're makin' sure of that!" Pell laughed, jumping up and down and looking eager for a fight.

"Nobody messes with our lord's plans and gets away with it," Nobb chuckled dangerously. "Get ready for a one-way ride on the _pain train_, Mario!"

Everyone looked at him. "The _what?_" asked Dulia.

Jaff growled and smacked Nobb. "_Enough _with your stupid metaphors, Nobb! Save it for when we've ended Mario's game once and for all!"

"You got it!" Pell and Nobb both shouted, and all three of them leapt into battle.

"All right, you're asking for it," grumbled Mario, who'd managed to get back to his feet. He pulled out his hammer and swung it at Jaff, but the Darkstrider jumped out of the way before he'd even gotten close, then sprang up behind Mario and slashed at him with his claws.

"YEOWCH!" Mario cried, staggering backwards and starting to worry for the first time. No doubt about it, they were _much _stronger than they'd been before...

"Hey! _Slow down _already!" Hanner shouted as she tried to throw her hammers at Pell, but he was moving far too quickly for her, racing around her in circles and taunting her all the while. Luckily he was so distracted with that that he didn't notice Stubba racing up behind him and clonking him on the head with his club.

"Why you – " he snarled, spinning around to face the Clubba, but Stubba just gave him a fearless look and used Shock Wave. He curled up and slammed into the ground, throwing Pell on his back and leaving his head spinning in confusion.

"Guess it's time to see who's got the bigger muscle, huh?" Snatchel said as he glared at Nobb, crackling his knuckles. The oversized Darkstrider grinned and came charging at him, and within seconds an all-out fist fight broke out between the two of them.

Mario was growing exasperated. He tried again and again to swing his hammer at Jaff, but his opponent was just too fast and too strong. Goomblaine was standing back-to-back with him and trying to fight him off as well, but he wasn't having any better luck.

"What a shame, Mario," Jaff laughed cruelly. "I thought you'd give me a little challenge here, just before the end. But it seems you've finally met your better!"

He opened his hands and generated another ball of dark energy, launching it right at Mario. The plumber winced and braced himself, only to then yelp in surprise as Ferdinand hauled him clear off the ground with Flutter Lift, causing the attack to fly right underneath him.

"That's bogus, man!" the Bumpty shouted at Jaff. "_Nobody's _better than Mario-dude as long as we got his back!"

Hanner, Stubba and Dulia were all ganging up on Pell. Though he was the fastest of the three Darkstriders and was flinging dark energy balls at them like there was no tomorrow, he couldn't possibly pick off all three of them at once.

Hanner winced as one of his attacks struck her right in the shell, causing her to skid backwards, but at the same time Stubba and Dulia shouted in fury and rushed at him. Stubba knocked him to one side with his Club attack, and then Dulia sent him staggering in the other direction with a Head Missile.

"You're just a bunch of _kids!_" Pell spat at them. "How the heck can you stand up to our lord's power?"

"We're not just kids, we're _Guardians!_" Stubba taunted him. Pell gave a furious shriek and hurled an oversized ball of dark energy at them.

"Get behind me!" Dulia shouted at her friends, and as they scrambled behind her back she threw up a Plasma Shield just before it was too late, the dark energy ball splattering against it.

Snatchel had finally managed to out-muscle Nobb, and with one full-blown body check he sent the large Darkstrider flipping over and crumpling to the ground.

"And _that's _why you don't mess with the sheriff of Golden Spur Ranch! It don't end well," he said with a grin. He was prepared to turn around and leave Nobb there, but with a sudden burst of resolve, the Darkstrider let out a roar and slashed at him, knocking he feet out from under him and sending him crashing to the floor.

"_Hey! _What the - " Snatchel cried, but Nobb had already gotten to his feet and looked ready to finish him off... when suddenly his eyes rolled back in his head and he dropped to the ground again, sound asleep.

Snatchel stared in surprise as Maizee came out from behind him. "I think you'll find we work better together, wouldn't you say?"

The sheriff broke out in a grin. "That's the best idea I've heard all day!"

Mario and Goomblaine had finally managed to get the edge on Jaff, with Ferdinand throwing in a Beak Jab whenever he got the chance. The lead Darkstrider was strong indeed, but he wasn't tireless, and at the moment he was hopelessly outnumbered... so he went for a different tactic.

"You do realize you've already lost, don't you Mario?" he taunted the plumber as he ducked and dodged Goomblaine's Headbonks. "While you're wasting your time down here, our lord has no doubt finished off your precious princess already! Your world is doomed to darkness, all because you just weren't fast enough!"

Mario felt a familiar twinge of anger... but he forced it back. He knew better than that by now.

"We'll see about that," was all he said before he started smacking Jaff around with his hammer again. The two of them dived into a mano-a-mano fight, claws against hammer, but Mario was so determined by now that Jaff just didn't have a chance.

He seemed to realize that. "_Darkstriders, regroup!_" he shouted at the top of his lungs. Nobb was all too eager to scramble away from Snatchel and Maizee, who had teamed up and beaten him into the ground with very little effort, and Pell crawled away equally quickly from his three young adversaries.

"You will _not _get past us, Mario!" Jaff declared as the three of them stood staunchly between him and the door... all together in one place.

Hanner just laughed. "_That _was a bad idea," she told them before generating an electric ball and knocking it at them with her Volt Hammer, striking them all with blasts of lightning. Snatchel immediately followed up with a Double Dash, plowing into all three of them in quick succession. They were all sent sprawling on the ground and groaning in pain... but even then, to Mario's shock, they still got back up.

"You'll have to do better than that," Jaff panted, exhausted but with more resolve than ever. "We've come too far to be done in by all of you!"

"Geez, they're _still_ not goin' down? We don't got time for any more of this!" Goomblaine cried. Feeling worried, Mario gave him a glance... and then got an idea.

"We have to wrap this up _now_," he said to Goomblaine. "And I think I know exactly how. You up for it?"

Goomblaine looked back up at him... and then grinned and nodded.

Hanner suddenly looked nervous. "Uh oh... get ready, guys. I think we're gonna see some fireworks."

Mario and Goomblaine stood together and shouted "_Shine Down!_"

All three Darkstriders looked up in shock as a huge, shining ball of light appeared above their heads... and then an entire volley of beams of light came crashing down from all directions. The three of them screamed and tried to scramble away, but they couldn't possibly evade the shining destruction raining down on them from every which way. One by one they were struck by one of the beams of light, and one by one they collapsed to the ground, very soundly defeated.

The ball of light died away, and the room returned to normal.

"That... that..." Hanner stammered after a moment of silence.

"That... was... SO COOL!" Stubba cheered, jumping up and down and looking completely hyper.

"That was the strongest attack I've ever _seen!_" Dulia cried. "How'd you guys _do _that?"

Mario turned and gave her a weak grin. "Well... it does take a _lot _out of you," he panted, looking ready to fall over. "I have a feeling it's for emergencies only."

"Let's not do that again," Goomblaine groaned, sitting down.

However bad they looked, though, the Darkstriders were far worse. Jaff finally managed to lift up his head and glare at Mario, though he knew it was futile.

"Fine, then," he groaned. "So you won, Mario. But no matter what, you've still done nothing but waste your time. Our lord will defeat you with his own hands... and this world will be his!"

He and the others struggled and stood up, looking furious, and then a cloud of black smoke enveloped them all and they vanished out of the room.

"Heh. That was no problemo," Ferdinand laughed casually.

"Is everyone all right?" Maizee asked as she came walking up to the others. "He was right, you know, Mario. While we were fighting, Shroude's had all this time to do whatever he needs."

"I know," Mario sighed, still aching. "All right, then, let's hurry up. We've almost made it."

After spending a quick moment healing up, feeling more anxious than ever, the group walked through the door on the other side of the room.

Beyond it was an enormous, pure white, spiral staircase leading up and up. Every several feet, the staircase had pairs of unlit torches attached to the banisters on either side. The walls of the stairwell were the palest gold, covered in the same intricate sun-and-moon decorations they were used to by now. There were no enemies, no puzzles, and the glow that had begun to fill the Temple was now shining brighter than ever before.

Silently, listening to the echo of their footsteps, the group approached the staircase, staring up and trying to see all the way to the top.

"He's up there," Mario finally said, breaking the silence, positive beyond a doubt that he was right. "Right at the top. And so is Peach."

"It's not too late, Mario," Hanner reluctantly spoke up. "Peach... she's still okay. We'd know if she weren't."

Mario nodded slowly, never taking his eyes off the stairs. "Okay everybody... let's get up there."

Slowly, almost reverently, the group walked up to the staircase and began the long trek to the top. Mario was in the lead, and as soon as he walked between the first pair of torches, he jumped back in surprise as they suddenly burst into flame on either side of him.

He stared back at his partners, but nobody said a word, and so he steadied himself and turned back around, continuing to lead the others up. There was no sound except for the crackling of the flames as they went. The staircase wound around and around, leading higher and higher. Every time they passed between a pair of torches, the flames would spontaneously flicker into life, lighting up two by two as the group drew ever closer to the top.

Finally they made it. They stepped off the stairs and reached the narrow landing, finding themselves in front of a towering set of white double doors covered in intricate gold filigree.

They stared at the doors, not daring to move. By now it was so bright it was as though the sun were shining right down on them.

Mario sighed shakily, feeling his heart start to pound. "This is it, everyone," he said. "I mean... I know I've said that a lot lately, but... this _really is _it."

Goomblaine gave a smirk as he stepped up next to him. "You're not _scared_, are ya?" he asked. "C'mon, we got this far, right? Nobody else coulda done that."

Hanner snickered. "Yeah, he's right. After all the crazy stuff we just did, what's one little insane overlord of Night compared to that?"

"I know we won't lose, Mario!" Stubba said fearlessly, standing up straight. "We always win when you're here! 'Cause you can do anything!"

"Shoot, are we gonna rescue Peach or are we just gonna stand here?" Snatchel chuckled. "C'mon, partner, I know you wanna get in there and bust some heads just as bad as I do."

Dulia smiled confidently. "We'll follow you wherever you go, Mario. No matter what happens after this, you know you can always count on us."

"I wouldn't dream of giving up at a time like this," Maizee agreed. "The rest is all behind us, Mario. The only way to go now is forward."

"It's like the Bumpty Boarders always say, man. Just go with the flow and don't sweat the small stuff!" Ferdinand said enthusiastically. "Whatever happens has just gotta happen."

Mario found himself beaming at his partners. He started to wonder why he'd ever been worried. Why had it taken him so long to realize it? As long as all of them were together, _nothing _was impossible.

"You guys really are the greatest," he said, then turned back to face the doors. "All right then... let's do it. Let's make history."

Knowing his friends were behind him, he stepped up to the doors and gave them a hard push. With a loud, ancient creak, they strained and then finally edged open, light spilling into the room on the other side.

––––

**A/N: **Next update, the final confrontation begins... homg guys.


	55. Chapter 8, Part V

**A/N: **This was supposed to go up last night but you can blame my Internet going down again for making you wait another twelve hours.

––––

_**The Temple of the Sun**_

_**00:00**_

The room was the shape of an enormous sphere, with a round, vaulted ceiling high above them and a curving floor far below them. The wall – the whole thing was only one big wall – was somehow gold and silver at the same time, as though it couldn't decide what it wanted to be.

The group slowly passed through the doors and entered the large chamber. After they had all made it through, they spun around in shock at the sound of the doors slamming shut behind them, then slowly and reluctantly turned back around to face what was in front of them.

There was a large, round platform in the very center of the room, somehow hovering clear off the ground. The only way onto it was by another glowing light walkway that was right in front of the entrance. Floating several feet above the round platform was a semi-transparent black sphere... and there was someone inside of it.

"Mario?" Peach cried the instant she saw him enter the room. She immediately started pounding on the inside of the sphere, desperate for him to hear her. "Mario! Up here! It's me!"

Mario looked up at where Peach was imprisoned far above their heads and felt a thrill of panic. "Peach! Hold on, we're coming!" he cried and raced across the glowing walkway without a second thought, though all the while he couldn't stop thinking _She's still okay, she's okay!_

"Mario, wait!" came Hanner's voice from behind him as all his partners followed after him. The group ran across the walkway and onto the platform in the center of the room...

And it was only then that Mario noticed who was waiting for them.

"Well, well, well... about time you showed yourself, Mario. I was starting to think you'd gotten lost."

King Shroude was standing there, facing away from them, but as soon as he finished talking he turned around to face them. He looked irritated to see them, but not surprised. In fact, the first thing he did was casually hold out his hand, and then suddenly the glowing walkway disintegrated behind them. The partners whipped around in panic at the sight of their only means of escape disappearing before their eyes. They were trapped.

"From the very beginning you and your friends have done nothing but get in my way, Mario... you just _had _to interfere with my plans at every turn. And now you've even followed me here, to the Temple of the Sun." He took a step towards Mario's group, and they all automatically stepped back. "I must admit, I've actually gotten used to it by now. I didn't really expect you to lose against the Darkstriders just now... at this point they're just buying me time."

Mario and Goomblaine were glaring at him, and the others were all staring warily; they'd never seen King Shroude before. Mario himself was starting to feel uneasy, remembering what the Master of Night had done the last time he'd seen him...

"You're right. We've beaten everything you've thrown at us," the plumber finally spoke up. "And we can beat you too. So why don't you just give up right now?"

Shroude only responded with a chuckle, as cool and charismatic as always. "You really think you can beat me? Need I remind you, Mario, that you stand before the supreme Master of Night? I don't care if your little friends are all Guardians; only the Master of Day can defeat me!"

With a cruel grin, he gestured up to the dark sphere above their heads. "And she's not in much position to help you right now."

"Mario!" Peach cried frantically, still pounding on the inside of her prison. "Mario, don't listen to him! You have to beat him! You're our only chance!"

Mario looked longingly up at Peach, then turned to glare at Shroude. "What are you doing with Peach? You let her go _now! _She's not even – "

"Oh please. You think I'm going to listen to your pathetic little pleas?" Shroude cut him off. "Once I've taken care of you and your friends, Mario, I'm going to complete the ritual that will eradicate her and banish her from this world for all time! Once that's happened, the world of Day will finally cease to exist - and the new world will be one of eternal Night, with me as its rightful ruler!"

Mario sighed deeply. He still didn't know the truth about Peach... and if Mario tried to tell it to him, he'd just dismiss it as a lie. They didn't have much of a reason to be honest with each other...

"Why are you _doin' _all this?" Goomblaine cut in angrily. "Why do you think you gotta get rid of Day? That's the stupidest evil plan I ever heard! Why don't you just go back to _your _world instead of takin' over ours?"

Shroude looked at him impatiently. "You know as well as I do that's not possible anymore. I _know _you have the seventh Sun Soul, which means you must have seen my home. A dying world where there is only suffering." He spread his arms. "No one deserves to live in a place like that... all I want is to make a _new _world where my minions and I can live. Why would you deny me that?"

Mario glowered at him. He certainly was a smooth talker, not just a cackling maniac like some of the villains he'd fought before... did this mean he could be reasoned with?

"You're welcome to live in our world, Shroude... but not like this," he said firmly. "You just don't get it. You think the only way you can live in this world is by destroying Day... but you need Night _and _Day! You can't just _get rid _of one because you don't like it! It's not natural! It disrupts everything!"

And he wasn't done yet. "And how can you justify all the pain you've caused to make all this happen? First you destroyed the Guardians of Day and now you want to destroy Peach? How can this new world of yours possibly be worth it if so many people have to suffer?"

"I don't have to justify myself to you, Mario," Shroude snarled at him. "And we obviously can't see eye to eye on this, which means the only thing left for me to do is end your games."

"Yeah right!" Hanner scoffed as the whole team got into battle stances. "I don't care if you _are _the Master of Night! There's eight of us and one of you!"

In response to that, Shroude just lowered his head and chuckled again... and Mario suddenly got the suspicion that something was very, very wrong.

"You silly little girl... have you forgotten you're not the only Guardians in existence?"

And then, before anyone had time to react to his words, the air around him began to grow dark. Mario's team stepped backwards and watched with widened eyes, as did Peach from inside the black sphere, as the darkness surrounding Shroude coalesced into six points floating behind him. Now there was a group of amorphous black blobs hanging in the air, their only distinguishable features being their sinister glowing eyes...

Six of Mario's partners suddenly knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what they were staring at.

"It _can't _be..." Maizee whispered. "But it's... they're..."

"The Guardians of Night?" Dulia cried, shaking all over. "But what's wrong with them?"

Mario looked at Shroude incredulously. "You _enslaved _them!" he accused. "Just like you did to everything else in this temple!"

"Very good, Mario," Shroude said listlessly. "I think it's quite appropriate, don't you? The Guardians of Day versus the Guardians of Night to determine the fate of this world? Anyway, I don't imagine your friends will be able to help you much when they have _this _on their hands."

And just like that, the shapeless black blobs started floating toward the group and lowering to the ground... and as they did, they weren't shapeless anymore. Mario and Goomblaine stared in confusion as the Guardians of Night floated past them, but the other partners were all watching in horror as they began to grow solid, taking on forms...

The first Guardian of Night landed in front of Hanner, and she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"H-_hey!_ What's going on here?" she cried, staggering away from it in fear. "Why... why does it look like... like..."

Hanner was staring at a pitch black copy of herself. It seemed to be glaring back at her, but it was impossible to say for sure, for apart from having her form it still had no features except for its narrowed, glowing eyes.

One by one, the other Guardians of Night landed in front of Mario's partners, each one taking the shape of the person they were confronting. Within moments, all of them were staring at shadowy, featureless doppelgangers of themselves.

"M-Mario?" Stubba whimpered, gripping his club as his dark counterpart started advancing on him menacingly.

Mario could only stare at this before turning back to Shroude. "_Why?_" he cried desperately. "Why are you doing this to them? This isn't right!"

"And who are you to judge _me?_" Shroude demanded, his voice filling up the whole room. "I am the _ruler _of this world! Fate is my only judge!"

He opened up his hand, and a mass of darkness materialized inside of it, taking the shape of his deadly, pitch-black sword. He held it high above his head as the entire room seemed to grow dark.

"Whichever of us be wrong... may fate now strike them down!"

Mario and Goomblaine gasped and drew together, realizing they were the only ones left to fight him. As the Master of Night advanced on them with sword in hand, Goomblaine frantically grabbed his phone and Tattled on him.

"Okay, this is the one and only King Shroude! Ruler of the Darkstriders and Master of Night! He's a real pro with that sword, and he can use it to attack both of us at once or even block _our _attacks! He's also got that wicked black lightning he can shoot at us, and _man _does that stuff hurt! Basically the only way we can land a hit on this guy is if we make him lower his guard!"

"Great... a sword... he's got a _sword..._" Mario groaned as they both braced themselves. "I have to be honest... I'm not good at fighting against swords. They're not exactly the weapon of choice in the Mushroom Kingdom..."

Shroude flashed him a toothy grin before letting out a shout, charging at him and thrusting his sword. Mario staggered out of the way just in time and desperately swung his hammer in retaliation, but Shroude deftly held up his sword in front of himself and deflected the blow.

"That little _toy _of yours won't work against me, Mario," he sneered, slicing his sword in an upward arc. This time Mario couldn't get out of the way in time, crying out as he was sent tumbling across the floor.

"Just what're you tryin' to pull?" Goomblaine snapped as he ran up from the other side and threw himself into a Headbonk. In response, Shroude just spun around and blocked his attack as well, sending Goomblaine dropping to the ground in a stunned heap.

"He's strong... and smart," Mario groaned as he got back to his feet. As long as he had that sword, what was going to stop him from blocking everything they threw at him?

"Is that _really _the best you can pull off? I'm disappointed in you, Mario," Shroude laughed before opening his hand. Mario had just enough time to panic before the Master of Night shot a black lightning bolt out of his palm and hit him right in the chest.

"_Mario!_" Peach cried, forced to watch the fight from her vantage point and helpless to do a thing about it.

In the meantime, Mario's other partners weren't having any easier a time against their opponents. They were fighting desperately, knowing they had to help Mario as soon as possible... but how could they possibly win when they were fighting _themselves?_

"You're _really _starting to get on my nerves," Hanner muttered through gritted teeth as she and her shadow swung their hammers at each other, then finally rushed up and locked weapons. "And whoever told you that hairstyle was a good idea must have been blind."

"Tee hee hee... there you go, making jokes again," the dark Hanner laughed mischievously. Her voice sounded cheerful like the real Hanner's, but at the same time, much more sinister. "That's all you ever do, isn't it? Are you really _that _insecure?"

Hanner blinked, loosening her grip on her hammer. "What?"

"Oh please, don't play dumb. You can't hide anything from me! I'm _you, _after all!" the dark Hanner cackled again in her impish voice. "You only make people laugh to distract them! You're afraid of what they'll see when they _stop _laughing! They'll see right through you... and they'll realize how _useless _you really are!"

Hanner's eyes flooded with horror. "You... you... stop it! _Stop _it! You're _lying!_"

But she _wasn't _lying, and they both knew it. Yes, Hanner loved making her friends laugh... but sometimes she really thought that was all she was good for... heck, she'd only joined Mario in the first place because of how incompetent she was... maybe it was better to make light of her faults instead of facing them head on...

"Ha ha ha! Not so funny now, are you?" the dark Hanner giggled. "What are you without your little jokes? _Nothing!_"

And she threw herself at the real Hanner, who was too shaken to get out of the way.

"Go... _away!_" shouted Stubba as he angrily pounded on his dark counterpart. "I have to... go help Mario!"

"Yeah, right! You can't help _anybody!_" the dark Stubba taunted him with a cruel, wicked voice – the fact that it was also a child's voice just made it scarier. "You can't even beat _me! _You're so little you can't do _anything _right!"

Stubba stared at him, immediately getting upset. "Shut up! It doesn't matter if I'm little! Mario doesn't care!"

"Yeah he _does! Everybody _does! They just don't wanna hurt your _feelings!_" the dark Stubba jeered. "Everybody on Mario's team is big and strong and smart – except you! You're just a dumb baby an' everybody has to take care of you! They'd be _way _better off without you!"

Now Stubba had tears in his eyes. "_Stop it! Stop lying!_" he yelled, rushing at his dark self and desperately clubbing him, but he was so upset that he couldn't focus. The dark Stubba just laughed again and effortlessly forced him back.

Mario was groaning and trying to shake off the effects of Shroude's lightning, but already he felt like his strength was running low. Luckily Shroude had been so distracted with launching the attack that Goomblaine finally got the chance to throw in a good Headbonk, throwing him off balance and sending him staggering off to the side.

"Hmph! You're stronger than a Goomba should be," he growled suspiciously, giving Goomblaine a glare. "But it makes no difference. You _will _fall to my strength!"

Drawing his sword again, he started advancing on Goomblaine while slicing and swinging in every direction. Goomblaine grew a panicked look and frantically started backflipping out of the way, but he quickly ran out of room to maneuver. Before long Shroude had driven him to the edge of the platform, and he yelped and scrambled to avoid falling to his doom.

"_Hey!_ Get away from him!" Mario shouted as he came charging at Shroude, but the Master of Night just whipped around and deflected his hammer swing yet again, nearly causing him to lose his balance and fall over.

"Haven't you _learned_, Mario? You can't possibly defeat me the way you're going!" he taunted. Mario could only stand there panting, grimly realizing he was right...

Snatchel was locked in a fistfight with his dark self. "Look, partner, I reckon you don't know who it is you're dealin' with, so lemme spell it out for you," he growled, grabbing his opponent by the vest and slugging him in the face.

But the dark Snatchel didn't look fazed at all by the blow; he just let out a dry chuckle. "Oh, I know who you are all right," he said. "Yer that one Bandit who just _had _to be different from everybody else, ain't ya? You got it in yer head that just because you're _different _from the rest a' yer kind, that makes you _better!_"

Snatchel narrowed his eyes warily. "What're you gettin' at?"

"Don't you lie to me! _Everybody _knows how high an' mighty you think of yerself!" his dark self said accusingly. "Well I got news for ya, partner! Bein' _proud _ain't no better than bein' a criminal! What kinda Guardian are you when all you can think about is yerself?"

"HEY! You shut your yap, that ain't true!" Snatchel shouted at him, but there was a very clear note of desperation in his voice. In fact, when his dark counterpart let out another laugh and advanced on him again, he found himself strangely unable to fight back.

The two Dulias were zooming around the arena like a couple of airplanes, repeatedly slamming into each other in midair. Finally the dark Dulia managed to knock the real one out of the air, sending them both crashing to the ground and tumbling across the floor.

"Ha ha... just like I thought," the dark Dulia laughed mirthfully as the real one struggled to her feet. "You're just a scrawny little weakling after all, aren't you? You can't even beat _yourself!_"

"You are _not me!_" Dulia snapped back. "And I _can _beat you and I will!"

"Oh yeah? When was the last time you beat _anything _by yourself?" her dark self jeered at her. "You couldn't even beat one sorry little ringmaster before Mario came along! And even before that, you were always just hiding behind your friends! Let's face it, you're just a wimp and a coward! You can't do anything on your own and you never will!"

Dulia's heart sank as she realized her dark self was right. "No... no, _stop it! _I'm not listening to you!" she cried, but the damage was already done. The dark Dulia floated into the air and came careening down at her, and suddenly she was so scared and disheartened that all she could do was run away.

Shroude had forced Mario and Goomblaine together again, striking them with a barrage of black lightning from his hand. All they could do was grimace and Guard against the attack, but their opponent was so powerful it barely made a difference.

"Goomblaine, we have to attack him _now!_" Mario hissed at his partner as the ground around them crackled with residual lightning. "He's only vulnerable when he's not using that sword!"

"It's not gonna work... that's not enough to beat him with," Goomblaine said hopelessly. "He's gonna take us out first."

Mario sighed. "I know he is..."

Still, they knew they had no other option. Shroude prepared to thrust his opposite hand forward and continue the assault, but this time Mario and Goomblaine jumped away from the lightning and threw themselves into the air. Shroude looked up in shock as they both came down on him, pummeling him with a Power Bounce and Multibonk.

Just as Mario had feared, he responded in kind. As Mario and Goomblaine broke off their attack and tried to retreat to safety, Shroude roared in anger and he came charging after Mario, thrusting his sword forward. Mario dodged it only partially, wincing in pain as he was sliced by the blade.

"Why on earth am I wasting my time fighting _you?_" the dark Maizee sighed as the real one confronted her. "I might as well just let you live. No doubt you'll cause more damage than I ever could!"

"Whatever you're trying, it won't work," Maizee said firmly. "I know I've made mistakes in the past, but I've moved on from that."

The dark Maizee just gave her a wicked sneer. "You've _moved on? _How can you possibly be so dense? You honestly think you can move on from what you've done? You think your friends will ever completely forgive you? That they _trust _you?"

"Of course I do! Mario is a good person! They all are!" Maizee shot back, quickly losing her temper.

"Maybe they are, but _you _certainly aren't," her dark self scoffed. "You think that just because of your sad little attempts to do good, you can just _forget _all the suffering you caused? You can _never _undo what you did! If you really loved your son, you would have found a way to save him yourself,instead of trying to _destroy _his only chance!"

"I had no choice! It was the only way!" Maizee cried desperately, but her words sounded feeble and pathetic. Her dark self just laughed and effortlessly shoved her to the ground, assaulting her with a painful song as she fought back tears.

"Listen, dude, I've got no beef with you," said Ferdinand, raising up his flippers and backing away from his opponent. "Can't we just chill instead of duking it out like this?"

"Aw, what's wrong, dude? You scared?" the dark Ferdinand taunted him. "No wait, let me guess – you just don'tfeellike fighting, do you? Because it's not _fun_ enough for you, is it, man?"

Ferdinand glared at him. "Hey man, that's a low blow. I'll fight you if I have to!"

"Sure you will, dude – right after you throw a beach party right here in the Temple!" his dark self laughed. "I dunno if you noticed, man, but you're _still _a total joke in your little group! Even when you're fighting to save the whole _world_, the best advice you can give Mario-dude is to _chill out and not worry?_" He scoffed. "Dude, look where you _are! _Are you _ever _gonna start taking stuff seriously? It's time to get your head out of the clouds!"

Ferdinand quickly felt his confidence start to falter. "Hey! I don't have to listen to this, man!" he protested, but his dark self just kept on laughing at him, which just shot him down even more. Then the dark Ferdinand leapt into the air, and the real one found that all he could do was wince as he was knocked to the ground.

Mario and Goomblaine were ready to collapse. They had given it their all, but Shroude was an utterly relentless fighter. He was toying with them now, slowly approaching them as he laughed, knowing they couldn't get away, then striking them with another lightning blast.

If only they could use Shine Down... but they were so weak, it would hurt them more than it would him...

"So you see, Mario," he said smugly. "No power can overcome mine. I am the strongest there has ever been; I was meant to rule over your world."

He looked at something behind Mario and chuckled. "It seems even your friends understand that now."

Despite almost toppling over in exhaustion, Mario gasped and spun around.

All of his partners were lying defeated under their dark selves, who were grinning down at them with glints in their eyes. Mario stared in disbelief. His friends didn't even look badly beaten up, but they all looked miserable... as though they'd given up.

"Guys!" he cried. "What's going on?"

Hanner lifted up her head. "Mario – " she began, but her dark self immediately smacked her across the face with her hammer, making her flinch and fall silent.

Mario was horrified, but more than that, he was confused. He'd _never _seen his partners like this before!

"What did you _do _to them?" he shouted at Shroude.

"_I _didn't do anything," Shroude replied, sounding very satisfied with himself. "They were the tools to their own destruction, Mario. All they did was hear the truth."

He drew his sword and stalked toward Mario. "However, I'll be more than happy to finish _you _off myself."

And without warning, he surged toward Mario and started hacking at him with his sword. Mario cried out and tried to defend himself, but Shroude was moving so quickly that Mario had no time to react. He couldn't even get away.

Peach was watching the whole thing with a look of horror. "_Mario!_" she screamed, tears springing to her eyes. "Stop it, _stop it, _you monster!"

Goomblaine grew a furious look and tried to Headbonk Shroude out of the way, but he just deflected the Goomba's attack with ease before continuing to slash at Mario. The plumber had collapsed to the ground, too weak and disoriented to get back up. Anyway, Shroude was attacking him too fiercely to even let him try.

He started to panic. _No... I can't go out like this... not now... not when we were so close..._

"You and your friends have fallen, Mario," Shroude's voice came from above him. "Now you will know the punishment... for defying my power!"

From where she was lying on the floor, Hanner suddenly felt a surge of terror. "MARIO!"

And before she knew what she was doing, she'd jumped to her feet, grabbed her hammer, and smacked her shadowy self so hard that she spun around a hundred and eighty degrees and collapsed to the ground.

Everyone was so shocked that even Shroude stopped what he was doing and stared, leaving Mario curled up on the ground and groaning.

"H-_hey!_ What gives?" the dark Hanner cried from on the floor, trying to shuffle away from the real Hanner. "You're not supposed to fight back! I just took all the fight _out _of you, you dummy!"

"Get real! I don't care what _you _think about me!" Hanner snarled. She certainly wasn't joking around now; she was _angry_. "_You're _not my friend! But Mario is, and HE NEEDS US!"

The other partners stared at her as she started wailing on her dark self, who was suddenly so shocked she could barely fight back, and gradually the scales seemed to fall from their eyes.

"Yeah! Mario needs us!" Stubba shouted, swinging his club and whacking his dark self right out of the way. One by one, the others grew determined looks on their faces and rose up against their opponents. Suddenly they were fighting with an incredible blaze of fury, and their shadowy selves started to panic.

"What are you trying to pull?" the dark Dulia gasped as the real one headbutted her in the stomach. "You can't just ignore me! Everything I said is _true! _You know it!"

"Maybe it is," said Dulia, "but that doesn't mean I can just abandon Mario when he needs me!"

"All of us have made mistakes, but Mario always had faith in us, and now we must do the same for him!" Maizee shouted as she threw her dark self to the ground.

"What they said, man!" Ferdinand cheered as he flapped over to his opponent and started unleashing a barrage of Beak Jabs.

Mario was still lying on the floor as he watched all this, his eyes wide. They were doing all this for him? He had no idea he'd inspired them that much...

"Guys... you're all... fighting back... for me..."

"So we'd better make sure it's not for nothin'!" Goomblaine snapped, nudging him in the side. Alerted, Mario glanced over his shoulder and yelped, rolling out of the way just as an enraged Shroude fired another bolt of lightning at him.

"This is sickening," the Master of Night snarled. "Just _what _is it going to take to make you all go down and _stay _down? _What do I have to do?_"

"I think it's time we found out," Mario said as he got back to his feet. "Goomblaine, I have an idea. He can guard against _one _of us, but I'll bet you anything he can't guard against both of us together."

"Yeah? This plan of yours better work!" Goomblaine shot back as Shroude drew his sword and charged them again, bellowing out a horrible war cry. Goomblaine responded by flipping into the air and delivering a Headbonk, which Shroude blocked effortlessly... but he was so busy doing that, his guard was lowered against Mario, who ran up right behind Goomblaine and whacked Shroude with a mighty Power Smash.

"AAAARGH!" Shroude roared in rage, spinning around and hacking at Mario with his sword. Mario grimaced in pain, but inwardly grinned in triumph as he countered Shroude's attack with another blow from his hammer. Just as he'd expected, Shroude threw up his sword and blocked it, but in doing so lowered his guard against Goomblaine, who delivered a Headbonk so powerful it knocked the wind out of him and drove him to the ground.

"And _stay _down, ya freak!" Goomblaine spat at him.

Shroude wearily lifted his head up and stared at him. How could one Goomba possibly be so strong?

"What _are _you...?"

The other partners were laying a beatdown on their dark counterparts. Their opponents had kept trying to force them back by taunting them, much more desperately now, but they refused to let it work on them again. Mario was fighting for them, and they couldn't let him down.

"Looks like I just beat you – _all by myself!_" Dulia snapped as she delivered the deciding blow against her dark self. The dark Dulia let out a wail of pain as she fell to the ground, and then her shape seemed to collapse right before Dulia's eyes. Her shadowy body lost its form and she reverted back to a shapeless, nondescript blob of darkness.

Dulia stared at it and shuddered. "That was creepy..."

Once he saw that had happened, Snatchel broke into a grin and punched his dark self square in the face, causing him to stagger backwards and fall to the ground, splattering into a shadowy blob as he hit.

"_Yee-haw! _Why don't ya bring yer A-Game next time, partner?"

Slowly but surely, working together, Mario and Goomblaine turned the tide against Shroude. Just like Mario had guessed, Shroude couldn't defend against both of them in a row, and when he blocked one of their attacks it just left him completely defenseless against the other person.

"Still think this thing is a _toy?_" Mario taunted him as he whacked him again with his hammer, landing a heavy blow. Finally Shroude seemed to realize his tactic wasn't working and just resorted to shooting lightning at them, but when he did that, he had no way of blocking their attacks at all. As Mario and Goomblaine deftly dodged one of his lightning strikes and then came charging at him, he grew a horrified look as he seemed to realize he was done for.

"Now take your stupid hair and _get outta our world!_" Goomblaine shouted as he threw himself into the air, pummeling Shroude with a Multibonk. The Master of Night was too weak to shake off his attacker, and then finally he was too weak to support his own weight. Letting out a loud moan of despair, his sword dropped from his hands and he collapsed to his knees.

Mario and Goomblaine watched as he sat there panting heavily, gradually realizing that he wasn't getting back up.

"That's it... we did it," Mario said quietly. "We won."

"Eh, that wasn't so hard," Goomblaine said gruffly.

Peach sighed and leaned against the inside of the sphere. "Thank goodness..."

"Mario! We're here to save you!" Hanner declared valiantly as she and the other partners all suddenly came running up next to him. Mario looked at them in surprise, then looked behind them and realized they had all just finished defeating the Guardians of Night, leaving them as weak and flickering balls of darkness on the other side of the platform.

"Oh... well, thanks guys, but we just beat him."

Hanner turned to look at Shroude and seemed to grow a disappointed look. "Oh... well, that's good, I guess."

Everyone on Mario's team cautiously drew up and gazed at Shroude. He was still panting and clutching at himself, but his eyes were blazing with fury.

"This... this is _impossible_," he hissed. "How... how could the likes of you possibly defeat me? It can't be done! It _can't!_" His voice was rising."I am the Master of Night! Only the Master of Day can defeat me!"

Mario raised an eyebrow at him. "And how do you know that's not exactly what happened?"

Shroude looked at him as though he were an idiot. "The Master of Day is _here!_ She has no power over me without her Sun Soul!" he snarled. "I joined her halves together myself, and I imprisoned her here! She can't do a thing!"

Despite the gravity of the situation, Mario couldn't help but break into a sly grin.

"_You _joined her halves together?" he repeated. "Now why would you need to do that? You know not even the Guardians can be split in half, right? Don't you think, if she really _were _the Master of Day, she would have joined together all by herself?"

A wary looked suddenly crossed Shroude's face and his eyes widened. "What... what are you saying?"

"I'm saying you've got the wrong person," Mario said smugly, relishing this moment quite a bit. He stepped to the side and looked at Goomblaine, who gave the wide-eyed Shroude an innocent smile and shrugged.

Shroude stared back at him. "Wait a minute – _what?_" he cried, suddenly losing his composure even more. "You – you're lying! You _have _to be!" He started looking frantic. "A _Goomba? _The Master of Day, the one true equal to my power... is a GOOMBA?"

Goomblaine snickered. "Yeah, funny how life works out, i'n't it?"

Shroude leapt to his feet, a desperate look in his eyes. "But this – it _can't _be! You're telling me that Princess Peach, the legendary maiden of purity – was just some random girl with _no bearing on my plans whatsoever?_"

"Certainly looks that way, doesn't it?" Mario said with a very amused grin.

Peach had been listening to all of this. "Really? You mean the villain didn't even need me at all this time?" she said, looking thrilled. "I feel so _liberated!_"

"What made you think it was Peach anyway?" asked Hanner.

Shroude was coming more undone by the second. "Well I – I – why _wouldn't _I think that?" he demanded, sounding defensive. "I mean, you _always _need a fair and pure maiden for this sort of thing! ALWAYS!"

"I guess that has been true the last few times," Mario admitted.

"Well, I say traditions like that were meant to be broken!" Maizee said with a chuckle.

Shroude's eyes were bulging. This couldn't be happening to him! It couldn't! He'd planned it all so carefully, so thoroughly... his plan was flawless! How could he have been wrong all along? Wrong about _everything? _He'd been so sure... and yet now all he could do was watch as his entire life's work came unraveled before him...

Finally he bowed his head and started laughing. It was a low laugh and hard to hear, but Mario and his friends immediately tensed up as they heard it. Something wasn't right...

"Fine then. If you are the Master of Day, then I'll just end _your _game instead! Better yet – I'll end _all _of your games in one fell swoop! You've humiliated me... for the _last time!_"

He raised up his hand, and suddenly the black sphere that held Peach vanished into thin air, leaving her hovering above his head. Peach screamed as, without touching her, Shroude hurled her through the air with some invisible force, disgusted with her uselessness, intent on sending her over the edge and out of his sight for good...

"WOAH! Hang on, Princess!" Ferdinand cried, throwing himself off the platform and catching her in midair. Peach gasped and scrabbled to cling onto his foot as he frantically flapped his arms, trying to carry them up to the others.

"_Peach!_" Mario cried, but his attention was suddenly drawn away from her and onto the Guardians of Night... or what remained of them. Some tangible but invisible force was pulling them across the floor and over to Shroude, like a magnet. Shroude was still laughing like a maniac as the ground around him crackled with black lightning; it seemed like he had lost all control over it.

"Mario? What's he doing?" Stubba whimpered, edging behind the plumber. The other partners were backing away as well, watching as the bodiless Guardians of Night were drawn inexorably toward their Master...

And then shadowy tendrils came shooting out from his body, each one latching onto one of the Guardians of Night, who were nothing more than little round balls now. The tendrils pulled them into him so that there were three on either side of him, the ones on each side lined up on top of each other. Then the tendrils formed together to create the illusion that Shroude suddenly had a pair of enormous black butterfly wings, each one tipped with three balls of darkness...

Mario and the others had no words for what they were witnessing. They could only stare silently, mouths hanging open, drawing together in complete terror as Shroude flapped his wings and rose into the air, still laughing madly as he absorbed the Guardians' power into himself, an aura of black fire blazing up around him.

"I _will _have my world of Night... and I'll destroy you all before I let you get in my way!"


	56. Chapter 8, Part VI

**A/N: **And here it is at last... I hope you guys enjoy.

––––

_**The Temple of the Sun**_

_**00:00**_

Ferdinand was gasping and panting as he managed to haul himself and Peach back up onto the platform. Unfortunately, they got there just in time to see Shroude in the middle of what looked like a total mental breakdown, losing all pretense of collectiveness and cackling insanely as he floated several inches off the ground, spewing black lightning in every direction.

"...Woah. That dude does not react well to having flaws in his plans pointed out, does he?"

"_Mario! Be careful!_" Peach gasped and tried to hurry over to him, but he heard her and turned around with a panicked look.

"Peach! Stay back! It's not safe!" he shouted, desperate to protect her now that he'd finally found her. "Don't worry about me, we'll take care of him!"

"Uhhh, how are we doing _that _exactly?" Hanner asked awkwardly.

"You and your silly little friends can't hope to beat me now, Mario," Shroude laughed as he continued beating his huge wings. "With the power of the Guardians of Night, I am _unstoppable!_"

As he continued laughing in triumph, Mario slowly felt himself overcome with dread and hopelessness. He was still exhausted from their _first _fight against him; how were they ever going to beat him now?

"Now might be a good time for a Tattle, Goomblaine," he said weakly, and Goomblaine reluctantly complied and pulled out his phone.

"Okay, this is King Shroude all juiced up on the power of the Guardians of Night. Now he's Omega Shroude! He's got a load of new attacks he can use on us, like suffocating us with that black smoke or sending out some kinda sonic wave that can confuse us... he's even got a more powerful version of that Lunar Burst move! Plus when his health gets low he can just use the Guardians' power to heal himself! He's gonna be pulling out all the stops on us, and I dunno if you realized, but this is our last fight! We'd better do the same thing!"

Mario's heart just sank even more as he listened. He had no idea how they could face Omega Shroude in their condition... but he knew they had to try...

"All right, here goes nothing!" he shouted to his friends, racing up to Shroude and throwing himself into a Power Bounce... only to break off as Shroude just laughed in response, not even flinching under his attack.

"Was that supposed to _hurt_, Mario?" the Master of Night taunted him. "I'll tell you right now, I didn't feel a thing!"

Before Mario could make another move, Shroude thrust his hand forward and hit Mario in the chest with a burst of black lightning, sending the plumber flying back with a scream.

"_Mario!_" cried all the partners as he skidded across the floor.

"You're gonna regret that, pal!" Hanner snarled, throwing a volley of hammers at Omega Shroude with all her strength, but he barely seemed to notice the attack. The hammers bounced harmlessly off him, and Hanner quickly grew a nervous look. "Uh oh..."

As she faltered, Goomblaine came racing up from behind her and tried to Multibonk Omega Shroude... and _that _seemed to get his attention.

"_You_," he snarled at the Master of Day, opening his wings and generating a sonic burst that sent Goomblaine flying away just as Mario had done. Goomblaine crashed to the ground, groaning and feebly trying to lift up his head, but suddenly the whole room was spinning.

"Ugh... why is everybody purple...?"

"He's been confused," Dulia cried. "And we haven't even landed a hit on Shroude yet!"

"So maybe we oughta quit beatin' our gums and keep tryin'!" Snatchel shouted, barging forward and ramming into Omega Shroude. But for all his strength, his attack didn't do a thing, and he ended up staggering backwards with a dazed look as Shroude continued to laugh.

"You haven't been _listening_, have you? The power of the Guardians of Night has made me invincible! Not _one _of you is strong enough to do me in... not this time!"

Snatchel was staring up at him, actually starting to feel afraid. "Well, that ain't a good sign..."

"Now! Take _this!_"

Shroude spread his wings wide and generated an almighty Lunar Burst attack, sending a blinding beam of moonlight crashing down from out of nowhere and striking Mario's whole party at once.

"_Mario! No!_" Peach screamed as they were all sent flying in different directions, tumbling across the floor and nearly falling off the edge of the platform.

Mario was curled up on the ground and groaning. He might have been able to shake off that attack if he hadn't already been so tired from their first round of fighting... but as it was, he was too weak to even move... and it seemed that his friends were feeling the same way.

"No... we can't... give up..." Hanner whispered, struggling and swaying on her feet. Poor Stubba was in tears from so much pain, but he clung to her as he desperately tried to stay standing.

"This can't be... no one could possibly be so strong..." Maizee said softly as she tried to help Snatchel up.

Omega Shroude watched them all with an amused look. "Really? You all still want to fight after _that? _You must be truly desperate to save your precious Daylight... how sad. Allow me to end your suffering!"

And with a flick of Shroude's wrist, Mario suddenly felt himself rising off the ground. He whipped his head around in fright and realized the same thing was happening to all his partners, who all cried out in alarm and struggled to free themselves.

"Hey! What are you – let me – ACK!"

Mario suddenly became enveloped in a cloud of chilling black smoke. He cried out and started thrashing around in midair, but the smoke was so thick he couldn't even breathe. He choked and gasped, flying into a panic, but he couldn't possibly free himself from the suffocating cloud. The smoke was so cold he thought he felt his body freezing over, or maybe he was just going numb from lack of air...

Then the smoke vanished and he collapsed to the floor. He heard numerous thuds coming from all around him, telling him the same thing had just happened to all his friends.

"Now you understand," said Shroude, struggling to keep his voice steady. "Now you understand that the power of Night must prevail. There's no place in this world for Daylight anymore. Your time is over, and my reign over this world has begun!"

Mario barely even heard him. He was so weak that he could hardly register anything around him. Everything was darkness and cold and silence, and he was all alone, feeling himself slipping away.

_I never thought it would end this way... not like this... after all the adventures I made it through... not when so many people were counting on me..._

_And I let all of them down... my friends... and Peach..._

_Peach...?_

"MARIO!"

"Peach?"

His eyes flew open and he saw Peach holding onto him, her eyes brimming with frightened tears. Mario stared at her.

"Peach... what are you doing?"

"Mario, please!" she begged. "I know it's hard, but you can't give in, not now! I... I don't know what I would do if I lost you, Mario..." She smiled timidly. "Please, you have to keep trying... for me, at least..."

She looked away bashfully. "I... I know there's nothing I can do for you, but..."

Mario just kept staring at her. Her shaking breath, the flush rising up on her face, the way she was clinging to him so tightly, probably tighter than she even realized...

_Peach... how could I have been so stupid? I'm not going out yet... not as long as she still needs me!_

"That's not true, Peach. You just did _everything_."

"Pardon me, Princess, but you're in the way of my victim at the moment," Omega Shroude sneered at her, stalking over to Mario and opening his hand to deliver the finishing blast of lightning.

But Mario wasn't afraid anymore. He sat up and glared at him, too weak to get to his feet but not too weak to say what he was about to say.

"You know why they're called Guardians, don't you Shroude?" he said. "Because they _protect _people. They watch over people. That's their job... to watch over the whole world and make sure everyone is at peace. Even you."

Shroude snarled at him. "You dare lecture me at a time like this?"

"_That's _the real power of the Guardians," Mario went on, his voice getting louder. "You think you have the power of the Guardians of Night on your side... but you're not using it to protect anyone. You're using it to hurt people. You're using it in anger, out of vengeance for your lost world. As long as you keep following that path, you'll _never _have true power."

Everyone in the room was staring at him. His partners were all wearily lifting their heads off the ground to gaze at him in disbelief.

"But my friends... the Guardians of Day... _they _know what it really means to have that power," Mario continued. "They all have loved ones waiting for them back there. They have friends and family... _they _have people to protect."

Shroude just continued to stare at him, completely dumbfounded, with no idea what to say.

His partners did not have that problem.

"Yeah... he's right," Hanner chuckled weakly, trying to drag herself over to Mario. "I'll never let you lay a finger on Sarge. He taught me everything I know." She managed a faint grin. "I owe him so much... you think a dumb bully like you can stand up to that?"

"I'll _never _let you hurt my mom an' dad," Stubba said in an uncharacteristically serious voice, and he was every bit as dangerous as he sounded. "Never _ever! _You already tried to hurt them an' I'll _never _let you do it again!"

"Shoot, I got a whole town full a' folks waitin' on me," Snatchel said as he got up on one knee, suddenly growing a very dangerous smirk on his face. "What kinda sheriff would I be if I couldn't protect 'em from the likes of you?"

"Benny and Gen were always looking after me... no matter what happened to them," said Dulia, frowning and glaring at Shroude with determination. "And now it's my turn to look after _them!_"

"I've gone through worse that you can imagine for my son," Maizee said in a low and frightening voice. "And I'll do it all again if I have to. If you even _think _of hurting him... I'll _destroy _you."

"The Bumpty Boarders _always _look out for each other, man," said Ferdinand, and now even he sounded serious. "I'd be nothing without my bros! There's no way I'm letting you wail on them!"

As though by silent agreement, all the partners suddenly turned to look at Goomblaine, and he just shrugged and snickered. "Well, that means somebody's gotta look after _you _freaks, right? That's what the Master of Day is for, I guess."

"And even if I'm no Guardian," said Mario, well aware of how the feeling in the room had slowly begun to change, "I still know what it means to have people you need to protect. Somehow, I don't think you've ever known what that's like."

Shroude was getting exasperated. "You think your bleeding heart sympathy makes _any _difference?" he demanded, though there was a strange edge to his voice... was it panic?

"Yes I do!" Mario shouted triumphantly, gathering up what little strength he had and struggling to his feet. "Because that's the power that _we _have! That's the reason we're going to defeat you!"

And somehow, all of them knew what to say.

"_Break of Day!_"

The entire chamber became flooded in a blinding sunlight. Omega Shroude shrieked as he was suddenly seized up by a brilliant white aura, binding him in place. He tried futilely to break free, and as the aura finally vanished from around him he dropped to his knees, panting and ragged.

Mario and his friends were surrounded by the same aura. Just like in the Soluna Temple, they all suddenly rose off the ground, looking confused and shocked as they began to glow and the pain from all their injuries slowly vanished.

As they stopped glowing and landed on the ground again, Mario grinned. They had been restored to full strength... and it seemed Omega Shroude wasn't so lucky.

"What... what did you _do?!_" he spat, glaring at Mario in contempt. "I... I'm not invincible anymore!"

"Well _duh_. How else could we beat you?" Stubba taunted him, sticking out his tongue and giggling.

Shroude's face screwed up in fury, and then he unleashed another sonic burst as he flapped into the air again. "_No! _Invincible or not, I'm _not _going down to all of you! I've come too far!"

"Yeah? Well _so have we!_" Hanner shouted as they all charged forward, and the true final battle began.

Mario led the charge, leaping into the air and Power Bouncing Omega Shroude with all his might. The Master of Night responded by trapping him in another cloud of suffocating smoke, attempting to choke the life out of him. When he was finally released, Mario dropped to the ground and collapsed to his knees, freezing and gasping for breath.

"Don't you _dare _hurt Mario anymore!" Stubba shouted as he and Hanner ran up, tag teaming Omega Shroude. They zigzagged back and forth and evaded his lightning blasts, Hanner attacking him at long range with her hammers while Stubba scurried up close and gave him a good whack with his club.

"Away with you!" Shroude snarled, generating a sonic burst that sent both Hanner and Stubba flying backwards and rolling across the floor. He tried to pick them off with lightning blasts while they were down, but Dulia threw up a Plasma Shield around them just in time.

"Get up, you guys!" she cried.

Hanner weakly lifted her head up. "...Look at the pretty Cheep-Cheeps..." she said faintly.

"Great... he confused them both," Mario groaned while Goomblaine kept Shroude at bay with a Multibonk. "He could take us all out like that if we're not careful."

"Not if I have something to say about it!" Maizee declared, spinning around and scattering a thick cloud of Hay Fever pollen over all her friends. Surprised, Mario immediately let out a sneeze as it landed on him, but sighed in relief once he realized they she'd made them all Allergic and immune to confusion.

"Thanks, Maizee. Now let's get back to work."

Once Hanner and Stubba managed to clear their heads, Dulia nodded in satisfaction and flew into the air, careening down on Omega Shroude and striking him with a Head Missile. Shroude countered her attack by surging forward and delivering a good old-fashioned uppercut, knocking her off her feet and sending her dropping to the floor with a cry of pain.

"That guy hit a _girl! _He's _so _going down!" Hanner snarled, leaping to her feet and charging back into the fray, but the others were already ahead of her.

"The blonde chick is _off limits_, dude!" Ferdinand angrily shouted at Omega Shroude as he flapped around his head like a horsefly, pelting him with Beak Jabs. He didn't get too far before Shroude knocked him back with another sonic burst, but thanks to Maizee, he didn't wind up confused from the assault. Unfortunately Shroude immediately came after him with the intent of punching _him _as well, only for one of Hanner's Shrink Hammers to come flying from out of nowhere and strike him in the head, instantly shrinking him down to toy size.

"What in the – " It took him a long moment to realize what had happened, and he was not amused. "You _fools! _You _dare _mock me like this?!"

"Aww, he's so cute!" Stubba giggled as he looked down at him.

"Yeah, adorable. Now let's beat him up!" Goomblaine snapped, Multibonking the miniaturized Shroude with all his might. The Master of Night was so small that his counterattacks against Goomblaine were completely ineffectual... but unfortunately for Goomblaine, he didn't stay that size for long.

"HIYAAA!" he roared as he shot back up to his full height, sending Goomblaine staggering back. "I'll teach you to show me the proper respect, my fellow Master!"

He started launching an entire volley of black lightning bolts at Goomblaine, knocking him across the floor as he yelped in pain. Omega Shroude kept on laughing wickedly, getting his revenge against the one who had humiliated him the most, and he would have gone even further but was cut off as Snatchel came running up and tackled him in the side, sending him flying off balance as his lightning went off in an odd direction.

"HOO-WEE! I can do this all night if yer up to it!" Snatchel laughed at him.

Omega Shroude clutched his side in pain and glared at him. "That sounds like a fine idea!" he declared, suddenly stretching his wings out to their full span as they began to glow.

Mario stared, and within the dark wings he thought he could see the Guardians of Night writhing in pain.

"No – ! He's absorbing their energy to heal himself!"

Shroude whipped around and grinned at Mario, looking none the worse for wear. "Very astute of you, Mario." He then blasted Mario with another lightning bolt before he could get out of the way, leaving him wincing in pain again.

"I can't believe that monster... will he stop at _nothing?_" Maizee said softly as she ran over to help him. "Mario, how can we stop him if he heals himself every time we hurt him?"

Mario suddenly felt a horrible knot in his stomach. "I hate to say it," he muttered, "but we have to take out the Guardians before he can use them like that again. Everybody has to focus their attacks on his wings. It's the only way."

Maizee looked horrified, but momentarily she nodded reluctantly. "Did you hear that, everyone? We have to attack his wings!"

"And what makes you think I'll let you do _that?_" Omega Shroude sneered as he came soaring at her. She stared him down fearlessly, stopping him in his tracks with a very potent Lullaby. He swayed where he was as his eyelids dropped, momentarily defenseless.

"_Now_, everyone!" Mario shouted, busting out his Multibounce on each of the Guardians on the right. The other partners dutifully came rushing over to him, and as she ran Hanner unleashed her Volt Hammer attack without even slowing down. Her electric attack tore through the wing on the left, striking all three Guardians and leaving them inert and useless.

"...That felt extremely blasphemous," she muttered uneasily.

"That effect won't last forever, Mario. Those Guardians will regain their strength before long," Maizee told Mario. He just nodded.

"I know. But until then..."

In the meantime, Omega Shroude had shaken off his drowsiness and realized what had happened. Both his wings were now drooping uselessly at his side; not only could he not summon the Guardians' power, he couldn't fly.

"You'll _pay _for that!" he shouted in almighty rage, raising up his arms. "_Lunar Burst!_"

Nobody could get out of the way in time before another devastating moonbeam came crashing down, striking them all with a terrible fury and leaving most of them gasping and on their knees. But they weren't about to go down so easily a second time.

"That's a nice trick... but how about _this?_" Mario shouted, racing forward and whacking him with a Power Smash. Astonished at his foe's resilience, Shroude glowered at Mario before striking him with his fist. Ferdinand was quick to come to Mario's rescue, carrying him into the air with a Flutter Lift before Shroude could hit him a second time.

"_HIYAAAAA!_" Stubba screamed as he blindly charged Shroude, swinging his club around and bashing anything that got in his way. Shroude was completely unprepared for this and fell to Stubba's furious assault, vainly shielding himself against the ferocious volley of blows.

"I've had _enough _of these games!" he finally shouted, unfurling his wings with such force that Stubba was knocked backwards. Everyone froze in terror as they saw his wings were already back in full functioning order.

"That wasn't enough time at all... now what?" Mario said quietly.

With a malicious grin, Omega Shroude turned to gaze down at Stubba, who quickly grew very afraid. "Uh oh..."

"Don't you even _think _about it!" Snatchel bellowed, ramming into Omega Shroude with the force of a train before he could hurt Stubba. Shroude hissed in frustration and tried to take to the air, but Snatchel was prepared for that too, roping him around the waist and pulling him down with Roundup before he could get away.

"You've just made a terrible mistake," Shroude growled at him before raising up his hand, enveloping Snatchel in a deadly smoke cloud. Mario shouted in anger and tried to run to his aid, but Shroude just sent him flying back with another sonic burst.

When the smoke finally disappeared around Snatchel, his teeth were chattering and his face was somehow even whiter than usual. "And _this _is why I live in the desert," he groaned.

"Let that be a lesson to you all – I'll destroy every one of youbefore I go down!" Omega Shroude roared, flapping back into the air. "My new world is upon us! No one can stop it!"

"Maizee, hurry! Take out his wings before he heals himself again!" Mario shouted, as Shroude had begun to do just that.

"It will be my pleasure!" she shouted back, belting out a deafening Showstopper that left Shroude recoiling in pain and temporarily took out the Guardians of Night once more. His wings flopped to his sides again and he was forced to land, seething in fury that he'd been unable to heal himself completely.

"You idiots can't keep this up forever!"

"Wanna bet?" Goomblaine jeered, flipping into the air and repeatedly bashing him in the skull with a Multibonk. Mario grinned eagerly and ran up to join him, and the two of them began bouncing up and down on Omega Shroude as though he were a trampoline. He screamed in fury and tried to shake them off, but without the use of his wings he couldn't knock them back.

"_I will not be made a fool of!_" he bellowed, throwing up both of his arms. Mario and Goomblaine both gasped as they were lifted into the air against their will and imprisoned inside an enormous cloud of smoke. Omega Shroude cackled gleefully as he held them up in the air and they thrashed around desperately, this time intent on not releasing them until they were gone for good. He was finishing this right here and right now, and no one was going to stop him...

"You let _go _of them, RIGHT NOW!" came Dulia's voice, and suddenly she came zooming down and Head Missiled him right in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him and forcing him to release his hold on Mario and Goomblaine. The smoke dissipated and the two of them dropped to the ground, and Mario looked up just in time to see Dulia charging at him again, the other partners loyally following behind her.

"You think after all we've been though, we'd let you get away with _that?_" Maizee demanded as all the partners started attacking him at once. "Well _think again!_"

"I like the way she talks, man!" Ferdinand cheered as he jumped into the fray.

"Mario, come on!" Stubba alerted him, and Mario quickly nodded his head and raced over to join them, Goomblaine following after him.

Omega Shroude was roaring in total denial, in rebellion, refusing to be outdone. He was desperate to regain his strength, but his foes were weakening him far too rapidly for his wings to regenerate. Without his sonic burst, all he could do was launch lightning at one of his opponents, attempting to pick them off one at a time, but each time they would just shake it off and dive back into their assault.

Mario was in front again, swinging his hammer time and time again and beating back Omega Shroude before he could get in a move. On either side of him, his partners were attacking him with the same lack of restraint, clubbing him, tackling him, floating and fluttering around his head as they dived at him. Omega Shroude continued desperately assaulting them with lightning, until he became too weak to do even that and resorted to knocking the nearest one of them to the side with a powerful punch, but the others would always leap in to fill the gap, redoubling their efforts to take him out.

There was no force in the world they couldn't overcome. Against the Guardians of Day, the Master of Day, and the great Super Mario himself, no one could hope to stand a chance.

"Mario... I knew you could do it..." Peach whispered from where she had been watching in safety.

"No... no... _no!_" Omega Shroude cried out, lightning spewing erratically from his body as he lost all control over his powers. "This wasn't supposed to happen! No one can defeat me! _No one!_" Out of pure desperation he swung his fist at Mario, punching him in the face and sending him staggering back. Mario briefly grimaced in pain, only to shake it off without another thought. Anything Shroude tried against them was pointless now. It was time.

"You can't do this to me! You _can't!_" Omega Shroude shrieked at them, clutching at his arm, his wings flapping languidly and uselessly. "Don't you even realize who I _am?!_"

"Of course we do... you're the guy who got beaten by us," Mario said simply. "Goodbye now, Shroude."

And he leapt into the air and drove Shroude into the ground. One Jump attack was all it took.

Omega Shroude let out a horrible scream, both in pain and in agony of being defeated. Mario stood watching stoically until Shroude suddenly began to glow, at which point the plumber's eyes widened and he quickly stepped back.

"What's happening to him?" Hanner asked nervously, though she quickly got her answer as Shroude's wings began to disintegrate before their eyes. They dissolved into particles of darkness that flew up and out of sight, until all that remained of them were six dark balls floating in the air, suddenly starting to glow dangerously...

"It's the Guardians of Night – they're being released!" Maizee gasped. "Everyone _get back!_"

"No... no... my power!" Shroude moaned, still lying on his side as the entire room began to violently shake and Mario and the others ran away screaming. "I can't lose it now... I _can't!_"

"Mario!" Peach cried as she ran up to meet him, but Mario wordlessly grabbed her by the wrist and hauled her as far away from Shroude as they could get before it was too late –

The shaking of the room abruptly stopped –

And then the Guardians of Night exploded out from underneath Shroude, careening into the air and meeting each other in a terrible crash that shook the entire Temple to its foundation, throwing everyone off their feet, deafening them and blinding them with a brilliant flash that lit everything up, drowning out the rest of the room until there was only white...

––

In every land all throughout Chronoside, in both the Day and Night worlds, the sky began to glow yellow. In all corners of the country, people lifted their heads up and looked around in fright as the very world itself began to rumble and shake, consumed by flashes of light. Everyone cried out in fear as a deafening boom filled their ears, as the world around them seemed to pick up speed and streak by their eyes, Dayside and Nightside rushing to meet each other, finally moving so quickly that everything blurred together and then there was nothing...

––

There was only white, and Mario and his friends were standing in a featureless void. Whether they were even in the Temple anymore Mario didn't know. He and the others looked around in confusion, wondering how they had gotten here, suddenly beginning to fear that maybe Shroude had beaten them after all...

"What... what just _happened? _Where are we, Mario?" Peach asked nervously, but he had no idea how to answer. Shroude was nowhere to be seen, at the very least...

But someone else was.

"Thank you, Mario."

He spun around at his name, and his eyes widened as he found himself staring up at the six Guardians of Night... the way they were supposed to be. They had been restored to the forms Mario had first seen them as, vaguely humanoid beings with wispy tendrils in place of legs, each one a different dark but beautiful color.

"Woah..." Hanner said quietly.

"They're... they're beautiful..." Dulia whispered.

"You have done well, Mario," one of the Guardians said in a distant, echoing voice. "You have led the six Guardians of Day here, and the Master of Day as well. And you have defeated the intruder who would have destroyed Day for all time. We owe you a great deal."

Mario suddenly started blushing. "Oh, well... ah, it was nothing. You're welcome," he muttered, rubbing his neck.

"So we really beat Shroude then?" asked Goomblaine. "Does that mean he's... he's..."

"His game is not yet over," said another Guardian. "We do not believe in ending games in such a manner, even one such as his. But he is safely within our power now... once we have finished here, we will remove the power granted to him as Master of Night, and all will be as it should be again."

"And I'll bet he never tries to pull a stunt like that again," Mario chuckled. "Well... thanks, you guys. Does this mean... we can go home now?"

His partners' faces lit up at the sound of this... but the Guardians of Night merely looked confused.

"You may return home whenever you like, Mario," one of them said. "But the Guardians of Day must remain here."

There was a moment of stunned silence.

"Wait – _what?_" Mario protested. "Stay _here? _With you guys? You mean, _forever?_"

"Of course. That is the purpose of the Twelve Guardians. To remain in the Temple of the Sun for all of time, maintaining the balance of Night and Day," said the last Guardian who'd spoken. "You seem surprised. Did you not realize this? How could you not? Surely you knew this was how it would end."

Mario was horrified. His partners were far more so.

"No – _no_, we didn't!" Hanner sputtered out. "Nobody told us we'd have to stay here forever! We thought we'd beat Shroude and then – and then – "

"You'd go free?" another Guardian finished for her. "Your job as Guardians is never done. There may come a time when another such as King Shroude appears. You must be there to protect the world. You must remain at the Temple always."

Stubba had tears in his eyes. "No! _No! _We can't do that!" he cried. "What about my mom an' dad?"

"You don't understand – we're not like you!" Dulia said to the Guardians. "We were born in that other world! We have people waiting back there for us - people who need us!"

"We have friends and family – we have responsibilities back there!" Maizee went on. "We can't just leave them behind! I'm sorry, but we can't accept this."

The Guardians seemed to be at a complete loss.

"You do not have a choice," one finally said. "There is no other option."

"Sure there is, man. Just bring those first Guardian-dudes back!" said Ferdinand.

"The original Guardians of Day were _destroyed_," another Guardian reminded him irritably. "To restore them to life would require the Sun Souls... and more power than we Guardians can ever hope to possess."

Everyone was silent as this sank in, looking devastated and hopeless. Mario couldn't believe it. After all he and his friends had been through together... he had to leave them behind? He had to leave them _here _forever, never to see them again?

"Well... what about the Master of Day?"

Everyone turned to look at Goomblaine as he spoke.

"What _about _the Master of Day?" asked Mario.

"Those guys said they'd need a whole lotta power to bring the first Guardians back, right? More than they've got?" Goomblaine said simply. "Well, I'm the Master of Day. I bet I've got enough."

Mario stared at him. "Goomblaine, what... what are you saying?"

The Guardians of Night all regarded him strangely as well. "You would do this for the others?" one of them asked.

"Well, yeah, duh. There's not even s'posed to _be _a Master of Day, is there? Just like there never shoulda been a Master of Night." He shrugged, trying to hide any emotion from his face. "Just use my power. Mine _and _Shroude's. We're not s'posed to exist anyway."

Everyone stared at him in horror. "Goomblaine!" Hanner cried. "What are you _talking _about? What are you _doing?!_"

Goomblaine gave her an irritated look. "What's it _look _like? I'm doin' my _job! _I'm looking after you guys! Ain't that what the Master of Day is s'posed to do?"

"But if you do this, you... you'll..." Dulia stammered.

Goomblaine just smiled sadly. "Yeah, well... better me than you guys, right? I mean, you said it yourself. You guys actually got people waitin' for you back there... me, all I got is a rap sheet."

"That _ain't _true, partner! You got _us!_" Snatchel said angrily. "And we ain't lettin' you take the fall for us like that!"

"Goomblaine... please..." Mario said quietly, suddenly flashing back to the rainbow butterfly all over again. "I said I wouldn't lose you... _please_..."

Goomblaine gave Mario a plaintive look. "If I do this, they won't be Guardians anymore... and they can all go free," he said. "I _know _I'm s'posed to do this. Maybe this way, I can..." He paused, then shook his head. "Ah, never mind. Look, I'm doin' this one way or another. You can't stop me."

Mario just stared after him, too shocked to protest. He wanted to cry out, he wanted to reach out and grab Goomblaine and pull him back, but all he could do was watch as the Goomba turned and faced the Guardians.

"Okay... you guys do whatever it is you gotta do. I'm ready."

The Guardians all stared down at him. "You are certain this is what you want?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course I am! Geez, quit stallin' already. Let's get this over with."

The Guardians nodded, and then as one they all closed their eyes and bowed their heads, circling around Goomblaine... and he started to glow.

Then Mario found his voice.

"_Goomblaine! No!_"

His other partners all gasped as their Sun Souls floated out and away from them, glowing furiously with a power they'd never seen before. They continued floating over to Goomblaine, surrounding him along with the Guardians of Night, and then his Sun Soul floated out to join them.

"Goomblaine! _Goomblaine!_" Mario cried, suddenly racing over to him before he knew what he was doing, but somehow he wasn't getting any closer. Goomblaine and the Guardians stayed the same distance away, and in fact, they were starting to fade from sight.

"No! No, you can't! Come back! GOOMBLAINE!"

He kept running and shouting, but nobody seemed to hear him. Then finally the glow of the Sun Souls grew so bright that it drowned Goomblaine out completely, drowned _everything _out, so that Mario was running into nothingness and everything, all of his friends were gone... and there was only light.


	57. Epilogue

_**Soluna Town**_

_**12:01 pm**_

"Mario... Mario... Mario! Wake up!"

"Huh... wha?" Mario blinked his eyes open, then immediately squinted as he found himself staring directly up at the sun. "Wha... what happened? Where are we?"

He said up slowly and realized that, for the second time, he'd been deposited on the ground directly in front of the Soluna Temple... only this time, everyone was here with him.

"Oh, Mario, you're awake! Thank goodness!" Peach gasped from where she was kneeling next to him, and Mario realized hers was the voice he had just heard. His other friends were all sitting around and looking at him too, but suddenly he only had eyes for Peach.

He gazed at her, and it was only then that it finally hit him... for the first time in weeks, she was really back. _All _of her.

He had his arms around her before he knew what had happened.

"I... I really thought you were a goner this time..." he said quietly, fighting back tears.

"Oh, Mario... you should know I don't go away _that _easily. Not as long as you're here," Peach laughed lightly, her voice like a bell. By the stars, she was less shaken up than _he _was...

"Hey Mario, save some of that for us too, would ya?" Hanner snickered. "We were all worried about you too."

Mario looked and saw his partners all sitting together, smiling at him and looking very cheerful.

"Good to see ya, partner," said Snatchel.

"Good to see _you _guys," said Mario, returning their smiles.

"Master Mario! Goodness, Master Mario, is that you?" came a voice, and Mario turned around again, this time seeing Luigi, Toadsworth and Rodolfo all come running up the steps of the temple to greet them.

"Hey, big bro! You're back!" Luigi cheered. "And you've got the princess! Does that mean you beat the bad guy?"

"Yeah... we sure did," Mario laughed. "Although I really had my doubts there for a while."

"Toadsworth! For goodness' s sake, Toadsworth, I'm _fine!_" Peach snapped as the elderly Toad immediately started fussing over her. "_Ugh! _Mario rescued me like he always does! Can't you see that?"

"Don't be daft, Princess! For all I know you contracted some horrible disease while you were gone! Now tell me, does your forehead feel warm? How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Well, Mario, it would seem you've saved our world after all," Rodolfo said with a chuckle. "I truly never doubted you for a moment. I knew the moment I laid eyes on you that you were something special." He suddenly grew a curious look. "But... what does this mean for your partners? Are they still the Guardians?"

Mario suddenly felt a horrible pang as he remembered the answer to that... and what they'd had to give up in order to make it happen.

"No... no, we're not," Hanner finally spoke up, shaking her head. "We don't have our Sun Souls anymore. But it's okay... honestly, that job was pretty overrated."

"Yeah! I'm not gonna miss it one _bit!_" Stubba giggled.

"You don't have to worry, Mr. Rodolfo. We brought the _real _Guardians back," Dulia said happily.

Rodolfo looked astonished. "Did... did you truly? Why, that's wonderful! That's remarkable! But..."

His face suddenly fell. "But, Mario... you're missing someone, aren't you? Where's your Goomba companion?"

Whatever happiness Mario had felt at being reunited with Peach immediately vanished.

"He... he's..." He lowered his face to the ground, feeling tears springing up in his eyes. "Goomblaine... he's..."

"He's right over there!" Peach gasped.

"_What?_" Mario whipped around and stared at where Peach was pointing. Sure enough, there was a Goomba lying several yards away from them, on the opposite side of the steps.

"Goomblaine!" Mario cried, scrambling to his feet and dashing over to him, trying not to panic. He wasn't conscious... he wasn't moving... he couldn't be... he couldn't...

Mario got down to his knees in front of Goomblaine and started shaking him, vaguely aware that the others had all followed him and were watching nervously from behind him. "Goomblaine... come on, Goomblaine, wake up... please..."

For a moment nothing happened and Mario began to despair, fearing the worst... and then Goomblaine suddenly opened his eyes, sitting up and looking around in confusion.

Mario tried very hard to hide his overwhelming relief. "Goomblaine... it's us. Are you okay? What happened to you back there?"

Goomblaine kept looking around for a moment longer, as though he couldn't believe where he was, before finally looking back at Mario.

"I was... somewhere else... some big glowing place..." He began uncertainly. "And I swear I saw them. My parents, I mean." He looked astonished. "And they were smiling. They looked so proud."

Mario had no idea what to say.

"But Goomblaine... we thought you..." Peach said uneasily, wondering how he could be here. "You had your powers taken away, didn't you?"

He gave her a smirk. "Well, yeah, duh. I'm not the Master of Day anymore." He shrugged. "But y'know... I'm not gonna miss it."

Hanner grinned. "That's the spirit! Who needs that stupid Guardian stuff anyway?" she cheered.

"Sweetheart, I don't think you should be saying that out loud," Maizee said softly, making a small pointing gesture up above their heads.

Everyone looked up where she was pointing, and several of them gasped.

Floating up in the air just above the temple were twelve very familiar figures, gazing down on them with wise and knowing looks. Six of them were colored lightly, six of them dark. As Mario stared, he suddenly got the feeling that they were not quite corporeal, and that no one else in town would be able to see them if they happened to look in that direction.

After a moment of silence, the twelve figures bowed their heads and slowly faded away.

"What was _that _about, I wonder?" said Luigi, looking quite confused.

Mario smiled a little. "I think they were telling us... good job."

"And as if that weren't enough, dudes," said Ferdinand, "check it out."

Mario realized Ferdinand was pointing over at the clock tower. He turned and looked, and his face flooded with excitement.

For the first time in living memory, it seemed, the clock read just after noon... and it was growing later still, as the minute hand continued to crawl away from the top.

"You really did it, Mario," Peach whispered joyfully as they watched the clock together. "You brought Chronoside back to normal... there's only one now... just like it should be." She looked at him in wide-eyed astonishment. "But Mario... time is moving again... what does that mean for us?"

Mario thought about that for a moment, and as he realized the answer, the smile began to fade from his face.

"It means it's time to move on."

––

The last thing any of them wanted was to leave Soluna Town, to say goodbye to all their dear friends. They put it off as long as they could and ended up staying in town for over a day afterwards (Rodolfo was nice enough to let them all sleep over in his living room, cramped as it was). Mario and his partners took the time to regale the others with the full account of their adventures, now that they no longer had anywhere to rush off to.

In the meantime, everyone in town was extremely confused that they all of a sudden seemed to have two separate memories of the past few weeks, and so of course Mario and his friends explained the truth to anyone who would listen. Most people didn't believe them, though Mario could hardly blame them for it; things like this only happened once in a great while, and some people were more open to them than others.

But they couldn't put off the inevitable forever. Peach finally had to admit that her allotted vacation time was over, and she had royal duties to attend to back at the castle. And she couldn't very well return to the Mushroom Kingdom without the Mario Brothers being there to look after her.

And so as the sun set on the day after their return, Mario found himself standing with Peach, Luigi and Toadsworth near the exit of town, at his least favorite part of every adventure.

"Mario... why do you have to go?" Stubba asked sadly, looking ready to start tearing up as he stood with all the other partners. "Can't you stay longer?"

"I wish I could, Stubba. I really do," Mario sighed, getting down next to him. "But I have things I have to do back home. I've already been away for too long."

"You all had to put your lives on hold for me," said Peach, her hands folded in front of her. "We have to leave now, but I'm sure you all have important things you have to get back to as well, don't you?"

Snatchel had been holding hands with Maizee, and now he immediately started grinning and threw his other fist in the air. "Shoot, I'll say we do! Yer sheriff's gettin' hitched!"

Everyone gave him weird looks. Maizee raised an eyebrow. "Honey, I think maybe we should take it a bit slower than that."

"Aw, forget _that! _I'm a man of ACTION!"

"Peach is right, though," said Mario. "You guys all have your friends and family waiting for you back home. I'm sure they all really want to see you."

Suddenly he turned to a certain one of his partners. "Although, Goomblaine... are you really sure you want to stay here in Soluna Town? You could go anywhere you want to."

"Yeah, Goomblaine! We'd let you stay with us if you wanted," said Hanner.

"Oh yes, the circus can always use a few more helping hands... or whatever Goombas have," Dulia giggled.

Goomblaine just shrugged and gave an unconcerned smile. "Ah, thanks for that, but I'm cool here. Place has got a lotta memories, y'know? And all the gold and silver doesn't bug me like it used to."

"I'll make certain he's well looked after, Mario," Rodolfo promised him. "It's the least I can do for you after you saved us all."

Mario smiled. "Well, you know... the Guardians are the ones you should really be thanking for that."

He sighed, suddenly feeling his gaze drop to the ground. "So... I guess this it it, then. This is goodbye..."

"Hey, c'mon, Mario-dude. Don't be so bummed out," said Ferdinand, walking over and giving him another pat on the back. "Goodbyes are only as sad as you want them to be. Don't be sad 'cause it's over, be glad 'cause it happened, right man?"

Mario looked up and grinned at him. "You know, that's what I really like about you, Ferdinand. You always say the smartest things, and it always surprises me. You really are a lot wiser than you let on, but you still know how to relax and have a good time, and that's something all of us could really take a lesson from. I hope you always stay the same as you are, because the world really does need more people like you."

Ferdinand beamed at his words, but it was then that Mario realized he had things like that to say to all of his partners. He looked away from Ferdinand and found the next person he wanted to talk to.

"Maizee... I can only imagine what it was like for you before you came to us, but somehow you made it through. That amazes me. I admire you so much. You have the biggest heart that I've ever seen, and you would move mountains for the people you care about. I know that because I saw it myself from you more times than I can count. I'll always be grateful I had the chance to meet the real you, because she's wonderful."

Maizee just gave him a warm smile in response, looking happier than he'd ever seen her. He felt like he should say more, but he knew he had to keep on going.

"Dulia... you really are one of the most talented people I've ever met. You keep on amazing me with all the things you can do, and I think not even you realize all the potential you have. Even if you are a little shy, you're incredibly brave and strong, and I know I can always count on you no matter how hard things get. You have such an amazing future ahead of you, and don't you forget it. I just wish I could be there to watch you every step of the way."

Dulia was blushing furiously and hiding her smile behind her hands, but the look of gratitude she gave him was unmistakable. Mario gave her another smile before he went on.

"Snatchel... sometimes I feel like _you _were the real leader of this group. You never once doubted yourself, and you were the one who always kept our heads together when things got rough. You were the one I could always turn to when I was lost, and I knew you'd always have the right thing to say. Your town is so lucky to have you there to get them through the good times and the bad, and so were we. I know we wouldn't have made it a day without you."

Snatchel just gave him a shrug and a modest-looking smile, tipping his hat to Mario. As Mario turned away, though, he found it was difficult to keep the smile on his face. Why was this getting harder and harder to do the further he went?

"Stubba... you really amazed me the most of all our friends. I should never have asked so much from somebody as little as you, but you came through time and time again, and I can't thank you enough for everything you did for us. Sometimes I even forget you're a kid, because you're even stronger and more dependable than most grownups I know. I'm so proud of you, and I know your mom and dad are too. And I know you'll keep making them proud every day."

Stubba had long since started crying, and all he could do was smile shakily and nod as he the tears fell down his face. Mario had to leave him very quickly, knowing he would start crying too if he wasn't careful. It was nearly impossible for him to keep going now...

"Hanner... I honestly don't know what I would have done without you. No matter where we were, no matter what we did, you were always there for me, making me smile or just fighting right there alongside me. I feel like I don't deserve a friend as good as you; you gave so much and never asked for anything in return. No matter what anybody else tells you, you're the greatest Hammer Bro, or Hammer Sis, I've ever met. Don't ever forget it."

Hanner was crying too, her hands folded in front of her face as she smiled at him, her eyes bright with sorrow and joy. Unable to contain himself for very long, Mario looked away from her...

And onto Goomblaine.

They looked at each other in silence for a moment. For the first time, Mario had no idea what to say. What _could _he say? What words were there to express how much Goomblaine meant to him? How much they had come through together? How much he had changed him forever?

Finally Goomblaine spared him the trouble and just shrugged. "You don't gotta say anything."

So Mario didn't. Instead he got down and hugged Goomblaine as hard as he could. As well as he could without arms, Goomblaine hugged him back.

"GROUP HUUUUUUUUUG!" Hanner cheered, and Mario yelped in surprise as everyone else started cheering too and threw themselves onto him, burying him under a sea of arms.

As much as he wanted it to last forever, he knew it couldn't. They all let go and said goodbye, and Mario, Peach, Luigi and Toadsworth turned away and made the very long walk out of town.

Several minutes later, their pink plane was soaring through the air just above Soluna Town, and all the partners and Rodolfo were still standing in the street and waving up at it as it flew by.

"Bye, Mario! Bye!" cried Stubba.

"We'll miss you!" shouted Maizee.

"Come back soon!" Dulia called.

Mario waved back down at them from his seat on the plane, though he wasn't sure if they could see him. Finally Soluna Town passed them by as the plane continued to climb higher into the sky, and he sank back in his seat and sighed. He couldn't believe it was really all over... he'd just finished another amazing adventure, one he knew he could never relive. All he could do now was turn and face the future, trying as hard as he could not to think about how much he had to leave behind in the past... all the friends who were still back there, watching after him as he went away...

"Mario, are you crying?" asked Peach, sounding amused.

"No," he lied, quickly drawing away from the window. "Well, I guess this is the downside of making so many friends... you have to say that many goodbyes."

Peach just shook her head at him and gave him a smile. "Oh, Mario... you don't honestly think that's the last we'll ever see of them, do you?" she asked. "Remember, we still have to come back to Chronoside for a _real _vacation!"

Mario gave her a very wide-eyed stare for a moment, and then a broad grin crept onto his face.

"Hey yeah, you're right!" he realized. "And boy, do I have a bunch of places to tell you about! First of all, we _have _to go to Golden Spur Ranch. It's a real live cowboy town just like from a Western movie! And after that we need to go visit Viney Valley. Hardly anybody even knows it exists but it's one of the most beautiful places you've ever seen, the flowers there are so colorful and gorgeous and everything is so clean and bright..."

"Oh brother... not _this _again," Luigi groaned.

And so Mario continued talking with his friends as the plane soared through the enormous sky, flying through the pink cotton candy clouds and carrying them on the long road back home.

––––

**A/N: **Not done yet, guys. One update left.


	58. Outro

"And that's it. That's the end of the story I promised you."

The storyteller closed the book he had been reading out of and looked down at his captive audience, two young Goombas, a brother and sister.

"So? Did you like it?"

"That was the _coolest story ever!_" the brother cheered as he bounced up and down. "Oh man, I _love _hearing stories about Mario! That fight was so awesome! First King Shroude was like _bam! _But then Mario was like _wham!_ And then they were like – "

"So that story really happened?" the sister asked eagerly as her brother started running around in circles and making sound effects. "So does that mean everybody in the story is still around?"

"They sure are. It only happened ten years ago."

"That's so _cool!_" the brother gushed out as he scurried to a stop next to his sister. "I wanna meet all of those guys one day! _Especially _Mario!"

"I wanna meet Hanner!" the sister piped up.

Her brother gave her an incredulous look. "Why do you wanna meet _her?_"

"'Cause she was _awesome!_"

"Well, maybe you two will get your wish one day," the storyteller laughed. "Now I think it's starting to get late. You two should probably get going home now."

"Will you tell us another story about Mario tomorrow? Pleeeeease?" asked the sister.

The storyteller looked down at the two of them in disbelief as they both gave him puppy dog eyes. "You want _another _one? Come on, you two, that's four days in a row now I've told you a story! First it was 'Star Spirits and Good Wishes', then 'The Thousand-Year Door', then 'The Lost Book of Prophecies'..."

"_Pleeeeeeeeeease?_" both of them cried at once.

The storyteller rolled his eyes and feigned a sigh of defeat. "Oh, all right, fine... if you both _promise _to be good, I suppose tomorrow I can tell you the story of Mario's adventure during the great Sticker Fest. But in the meantime, you _really _should be getting home now."

"_Yaaaaaaaaay!_" both little Goombas cheered, dancing in circles around each other before finally spinning around and running off towards home.

"_Thank you!_" the sister called over her shoulder as they left.

The storyteller chuckled to himself as he watched them vanish into the evening crowd, then got to his feet. Like always, the three of them had been sitting on the steps just in front of the Soluna Temple, where he worked. It was nice to get out of there once in a while, but now it was time to get back to work.

He pushed the door open and stepped inside, then walked up the spiral staircase until he got to his office on the second floor.

It was small, but it was all he needed. Apart from his desk, it also contained several bookshelves lining the walls and overflowing with books – he supposed Rodolfo had rubbed off on him in that respect.

He put the book he'd just finished reading out of back in its place, to the right of three other identically bound books. Mario's adventures were famous the world over, and you'd be hard pressed to find somebody who didn't own at least one of those books... but Mario had made it a point to get the complete series for all of his friends.

He sat down at his desk, looking up at the books for a moment before he felt his gaze slowly drawn toward the framed picture on his desk. The one he never went a day without looking at.

It was him and Mario, along with all their other friends – all ten years younger, obviously – smiling and waving at the camera and looking like the silliest family you ever saw.

He smiled, wondering if he'd ever get around to telling those two kids the truth... or if they'd figure it out on their own one day.

He kept gazing at the photo, recalling how he'd kept in touch with all of them over the years and wondering what they were all up to right that minute.

Hanner had gone back to Fleetmont, rising up in the ranks of the Hammer Force until, much to her shock, Sergeant Sledge had retired and appointed her as his replacement. She'd been nervous at first, fearing she wasn't worthy of such an honor, but everyone in town agreed she was the best chief of police they'd ever had. She'd also married one of her friends from the force, and just a few months ago she'd laid her first egg. She was completely freaking out about it, naturally, but all her friends helped her through it, always reminding her she was better than she thought she was, for which she'd always be grateful.

Dulia had grown into a stunning young adult, and she still belonged to the Starshine Circus to this day – more specifically, she was the headliner. The performers had wondered if their show would ever match its former success now that their famous animal act was no more, but they didn't have to worry; now people came from miles around to see The Amazing Dulia, The World's Greatest Shapeshifter, who wowed audiences with her fantastical animal transformations. But she still liked it best when she was just with her friends; she and Benny were still happily together, and of course Imogen still watched their backs for old times' sake.

Even Stubba, the baby of their group, was a baby no longer. Now he was a teenager – and by all accounts, he was quite the heartbreaker. He was a bit of a sports hero at his school, but of course he never let it get to his head, and everyone agreed on what an upstanding young man he was. And that wasn't all – just a few months after getting back from his adventure, he'd become a big brother. Now he had a sister named Nubba, who according to him was "an obnoxious little brat" and "the biggest thorn in my side". Of course that was only what he said to her face, since everyone knew that he'd make a world of hurt for anyone who messed with her.

Maizee had gone back to living a quiet and peaceful life, content with retiring from adventuring and just watching Daymien grow up before sending him off to study abroad at U Goom. She'd been offered the position of mayor of Viney Valley just after she got back, but she'd turned it down, deciding that sort of thing "just wasn't for her". At any rate, she was still universally admired and respected in her home town, and even if she wasn't as young as she used to be, she still hadn't lost a touch of her beauty and grace. Just about everybody agreed on that, especially her husband.

Speaking of whom, Snatchel was naturally still sheriff of Golden Spur Ranch, running as tight a shift as ever. After his adventure to help save the world, he'd practically reached folk hero status in his town, and nobody even dreamed of running against him. He counted himself lucky for that, since there was no job in the world he would rather do. Once Daymien was off at college, he and Maizee were _finally _able to get married (several years too late for his liking) and she'd moved into town with him, and the place just became that much brighter with the two of them together.

Ferdinand and the other Bumpty Boarders had finally opened up their surf shop not too long after the adventure was over. Now, ten years later, it had expanded into an entire chain, and a wildly successful one at that – Ferdinand was actually an amazing entrepreneur, even if he didn't look it. The Bumpty Boarders were still as close as ever, spending their off hours surfing the waves by Palmy Balmy Beach. Unlike most of his old teammates, though, and much to the disappointment of the girls on the beach, their leader had never found himself interested in romance; he'd always said his one true love was the surf and sand.

King Shroude and the Darkstriders were still around, but they never caused any more trouble. Shroude had lost his power as the Master of Night, and so was in no position to try and take over the world anymore. He and his minions had to settle for living in the world as it was, with both Day and Night. They were highly reclusive and were naturally never seen during the day, but every so often, a wary nighttime traveler would enter a nearby inn with a wild look on their face, swearing they'd just seen the swishing of a familiar cape and a group of dark blue (or green) creatures slinking around in the shadows. No one ever knew if those accounts were true... and it was probable that Shroude liked it better that way.

Mario still took the time to visit his old friends whenever he got the chance – and even so, it wasn't often. His job as the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom was never over, after all, and it seemed that every time he caught up with his traveling companions he'd have a new crazy story for them about his latest quest to save the world – he was _grateful _when it was something as simple as Bowser kidnapping Peach again. Still, he was happy, and so were his friends whenever they got a chance to see him again. He never stopped telling them how glad he was that they all had met.

The storyteller found his smile had grown huge from all those memories... and he shook his head and chuckled before looking at the Mario standing next to him in the picture, flashing his trademark peace sign.

"Mario... thanks."

Even if it had been a while, he still had a smile on his face as he turned away, knowing he had nothing to worry about. Mario would be back... when the sun rose in the morning, and daylight returned once again.

**~THE END~**

––––

**A/N: **Wow... where to start...

First of all, this is, bar none, the _longest _thing I've ever written, fanfic or no. And as dumb as it sounds, it's also one of the proudest accomplishments of my whole life. Writing is a passion of mine, no matter what the subject happens to be.

Of course, I also have to extend a great big thank you to all of my readers and fans for all the wonderful feedback you gave this story, and for your incredible patience as you stuck by this thing for so long. I would be literally nothing without you guys, and I'm so glad that so many of you enjoyed this as much as I did. Writing a story is one thing, but nothing makes me happier than getting to share it with others. I hope it lived up to your expectations.

I also hope you enjoyed Mario and all the playmates that I made for him. They all mean so much to me, and I hope they've found a place in your heart as well.

Thus concludes my little contribution to the endlessly clever, immensely fun, and staggeringly addictive world of Paper Mario.

May we meet again in another time and place.


End file.
